Your Great and Terrible World

Some recent blog-post recommendations sent along by loyal Hit & Run readers:

* Chicago education chief wants to start public boarding schools.
* Jaguars (the panthers, not the cars) make a comeback in the Southwestern U.S. [pdf].
* Lawrence Welk vs. The Hippies.
* Democrats pull plug on telephone located inside Capitol deli, saying workers were using it to make personal calls.
* Competitive Enterprise Institute launches national ad campaign against Al Gore.
* Ilya Somin conducts a multi-post seminar of sorts about Steven Teles' new book, The Rise of the Conservative Legal Movement.
* "The Boston Zoning Commission unanimously approved a controversial measure this afternoon that limits the number of undergraduate college students who can share an apartment to a maximum of four."
* Brits consider new laws to enforce patriotism.
* David Horowitz eulogizes his late daughter.
* Frisco sex workers circulate petition to stop enforcing sex-crime laws.

Thanks to all for the tips!

Comments

Sam Grove | March 14, 2008, 3:30pm | #

Brits consider new laws to enforce patriotism.

That would be because they unable to EARN loyalty.

Kolohe | March 14, 2008, 3:32pm | #

Was this the same deli where someone got fired for being rude to a congressperson?

Kolohe | March 14, 2008, 3:38pm | #

And I though that 'San Fran' was acceptable shorthand for the city by the bay, but "frisco" was an abomination onto whichever diety you follow (or the rational repsonder chick if you prefer)

robc | March 14, 2008, 3:40pm | #

Hey Boston:

What if the college students are hispanic?

Matt Welch | March 14, 2008, 3:40pm | #

Kolohe -- If respecting the preferred styleguide of San Franscicans is a crime, then I am an innocent man.

sage | March 14, 2008, 3:40pm | #

I would love to hunt
Jaguars, and I am talking
about cars, not cats

PC | March 14, 2008, 3:41pm | #

Here is another link:

http://www.grannywarriors.com/rally.htm

Apparently some truthers are on the agenda. That should go over well.

TrickyVic | March 14, 2008, 3:41pm | #

"""Brits consider new laws to enforce patriotism.

That would be because they unable to EARN loyalty.""""

Or maybe it's similar to how the words "under god" was placed in the pledge of allegience. Instead of rooting out commies, they are trying to root out Islamic extremist.

If you don't act like a patriot, your a commie. Oopps I mean a terrorist.

robc | March 14, 2008, 3:44pm | #

From the Boston article:

You can't let profit dominate the public debate

Why not? Councilman Ross, YOU cant just make a statement like that, and have me accept it, without first proving it to me, which you cant do.

Episiarch | March 14, 2008, 3:46pm | #

I would love to hunt
Jaguars, and I am talking
about cars, not cats

Why hunt them? Just wait a little while and they'll break down.

Click 'n' Learn | March 14, 2008, 3:49pm | #

The Welk link was great, it's good that someone's still takin' it to the squares.

Say, here's something interesting. Up With Cosmos!

Kolohe | March 14, 2008, 3:52pm | #

Matt, I don't really care (so why am I posting, right?) - I don't live there and never have - but either you are guilty or avant garde

A Last Word
It used to be that if you referred to the City (the preferred term for San Francisco) as Frisco, it signalled you as an ignorant rube. In the last few years, though, there's been a small and quiet revolution underfoot to liberate it as a term of endearment, much like gay people have taken ownership of the formerly pejorative "queer." However, saying "Frisco" when referring to San Francisco has not yet achieved mainstream status, so a good bit of advice is this: don't use "Frisco" unless you live here, lest you risk the scorn of the unenlightened local.

Or to be equally hip, should I start calling the Reason HQ staff "Columbians?" :)

Kwix | March 14, 2008, 3:52pm | #

Shut up you ingrates
into the dark hole with you
timmy my office

anonymous coward | March 14, 2008, 3:56pm | #

I'm most interested in the idea of the public boarding schools. As a libertarian, I'm tempted towards a reaction of "oh noes, there stealing our kids!" On the other hand, having read The Corner by David Simon and Ed Burns, it seems like leaving children with their barely-functional drug-addict parents ain't great either. And on the other other hand, the same guys made out children's group homes out to be one of the lower levels of hell in The Wire. So, hm.

Reinmoose | March 14, 2008, 3:58pm | #

Matt Welch, why are none
of those written in the form
of a haiku poem?

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 4:01pm | #

Monomania:
Look it up, LonelyWhacker.
You need to get help.

sixstring | March 14, 2008, 4:01pm | #

Matt Welch, why are none
of those written in the form
of a haiku poem?

I'll hazard a guess
On Fridays before it's noon
Reason writers drink

Matt Welch | March 14, 2008, 4:02pm | #

Kolohe, I am
Bellflower born, Long Beach raised
F*** San Francisco

Kwix | March 14, 2008, 4:05pm | #

And Matt wins the thread!!!

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 4:07pm | #

Matt Welch plays along.
The editor is with us.
Hear that, Reason staff?

thoreau | March 14, 2008, 4:10pm | #

See, the problem with jaguars is that they cross our border and come here and steal deer from hardworking American mountain lions. Rumor has it that some of these giant cats even disrespect our culture by writing their lolz in Spanish.

Yo puedo tener hamburguesa?

Episiarch | March 14, 2008, 4:11pm | #

Enough haiku
It is starting to wear thin
Do you feel me?

Episiarch | March 14, 2008, 4:12pm | #

5-7-5. Not 4-7-4. I am an idiot.

Episiarch | March 14, 2008, 4:13pm | #

Enough the haiku
It is starting to wear thin
Are you feeling me?

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 4:13pm | #

Hey dude, lighten up.
This only comes once a year.
Suck on it, cranky.

Reinmoose | March 14, 2008, 4:14pm | #

RE: Democrats pull plug on telephone located inside Capitol deli, saying workers were using it to make personal calls.

Finally the Dems
fiscally responsible
about f-ing time

Isaac Bartram | March 14, 2008, 4:14pm | #

Chicago education chief wants to start public boarding schools.

Looks to me like some well-intentioned people are trying to bring back orphanages without it sounding like that.

As anonymous coward notes, there's some merit to separating children from their disfunctional families.

On the other hand we had problems in the past when we decided that there were people who knew better than the riff-raff.

Isaac Bartram | March 14, 2008, 4:16pm | #

That is to say, in this case, there certainly are people who know more than the riff-raff but that doesn't necessarily mean they have the right idea about raising children.

Justin Slotman | March 14, 2008, 4:19pm | #

Stupidass lurker
Makes random useless comment
Mocked mercilessly

GG | March 14, 2008, 4:26pm | #

That eulogy brought tears to my eyes.

...the fucking regret and guilt, these things, don't ever let anyone ever say to you you shouldn't regret anything. Don't do that. Don't! You regret what you fucking want! Use that. Use that. Use that regret for anything, any way you want. You can use it, OK? Oh, God. This is a long way to go with no punch. A little moral story, I say... Love. Love. Love. This fucking life... oh, it's so fucking hard. So long. Life ain't short, it's long. It's long, goddamn it. /Big Earl Partridge

In other news, the long arm of the law is getting longer, y'all:

D.C. Seeks Consent To Search for Guns
Amnesty Offered for Access to Homes

Residents who agree to the searches will be asked to sign consent forms. If guns are found, they will be tested to determine whether they were used in crimes. If the results are positive, police will launch investigations, which could lead to charges.

Boston police are embarking on a similar program this month. Police in that city have been meeting with residents before the door-to-door effort begins. Philadelphia police are considering such an initiative.

sixstring | March 14, 2008, 4:29pm | #

Why not change the rules?
Every haiku must also
be a one-liner.

Yo Momma's so fat
when she goes out to dinner
she gets estimates!

Click 'n' Learn | March 14, 2008, 4:31pm | #

thoreau writes: See, the problem with jaguars is that they cross our border and come here and steal deer from hardworking American mountain lions.

That's so incredibly cute, but it does help illustrate how the vast majority of bloggers are lightweights.

Those who aren't childlike recognize Welch's link for it's prop.-related aspects. They even go political right in the summary.

Compare this and this.

You thought Matt Welch was just providing a neat-o nature link, when in fact he was presenting something a bit more agenda-driven.

Alan Vanneman | March 14, 2008, 4:31pm | #

"Democrats pull plug on telephone located inside Capitol deli, saying workers were using it to make personal calls."

Well, not really. When the Democrats took over, they changed the management of the deli. And the new management took out the phone. Which, according to the TMZ site, proves that all Democrats are heartless idiots.

Jamie Kelly | March 14, 2008, 4:35pm | #

Liver is on "mark"
It's Friday and I'm shaky
"get set go" glug glug

sixstring | March 14, 2008, 4:37pm | #

When the Democrats took over, they changed the management of the deli.

Is this the same group
Nancy Pelosi has made
refuse to sell cigs?

joe | March 14, 2008, 4:38pm | #

sixstring, your mom's teeth
Are so nasty, when she grins,
People yell "Boxcars!"

sage | March 14, 2008, 4:41pm | #

That was a good one
joe, I'll never be half the
Man your mom once was

Episiarch | March 14, 2008, 4:43pm | #

Alan Vanneman
OH NOES negativity
towards Democrats

Tonio | March 14, 2008, 4:47pm | #

Thoreau wins the thread, despite Lonewacko's incoherent objections.

WTF are "prop.-related aspects" anyway? Totally ambiguous abbreviation, Bumwad.

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 4:55pm | #

Yer mom wants something.
Should I take the gag-ball out?
Naw, it ain't worth it.

joe | March 14, 2008, 5:05pm | #

highnumber, your mom
Wants you to call me "Daddy."
Let's get some ice cream.

The Real Bill | March 14, 2008, 5:18pm | #

Kolohe, I am
Bellflower born, Long Beach raised
F*** San Francisco

Long Beach raised...
It's no wonder you're such an ass. SoCal POS.
Yes, I live in San Francisco.

Jamie Kelly | March 14, 2008, 5:24pm | #

Your mom visited
the salon; they shaved her back
Dull blades need replaced

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 5:27pm | #

joe's mom ate a pig.
then the cops arrested her.
cannibalism.

Jamie Kelly | March 14, 2008, 5:37pm | #

joe's mom looks at son,
wonders what went wrong. Is there
Retro abortion?

Click 'n' Learn | March 14, 2008, 5:53pm | #

Let's recap:

1. MattW linked to what's clearly an agenda-motivated study (the jaguars one). He didn't disclose that it's clearly an agenda-motivated study.

2. MattW didn't, for instance, look in to the backgrounds, funding, memberships, etc. of the study's authors.

3. MattW didn't interview the authors and ask them about the preceding. Let's call that a wash because until such time as they actually get featured by an important source I won't do that either. But, unlike MattW, I will do that if they get referenced elsewhere.

4. MattY didn't go in to how those who support open borders will do anything to get what they want, whether it involves waving babies or waving jaguars or sheep. See the links in my previous comment for examples of such jaguar- and sheep-waving.

highnumber | March 14, 2008, 5:53pm | #

Good-bye, Haiku Day.
I have to be somewhere now.
Going to a play.

Art-P.O.G. | March 14, 2008, 6:09pm | #

You need to get help.

That is surely the first and only Haiku Intervention I've ever seen. Well done.

Sparky | March 14, 2008, 6:12pm | #

Click 'n' Learn only
that Lonewacko is a tool
head too far up ass

stubby | March 14, 2008, 6:32pm | #

I never thought Joe
Was really all that clever
It's rare, but I'm wrong.

Jonathan Hohensee | March 14, 2008, 7:27pm | #

Welk's heroin habit eventually caught up with him, and he was swallowed whole by a voracious counterculture.
HA!

Matt Welch | March 14, 2008, 7:39pm | #

Believe it or not,
Loney, sometimes a link is
just a f****** link

thoreau | March 14, 2008, 7:43pm | #

JaguarsSTOLemyspAcebar.

thoreau | March 14, 2008, 7:45pm | #

BTW, theBorderFence won'tSTop jaguarsfromusingtehinternetz forlolcatz.

Yo puedo tener un hamburguesa?

alan | March 15, 2008, 2:28am | #

when referring to San Francisco has not yet achieved mainstream status, so a good bit of advice is this: don't use "Frisco" unless you live here, lest you risk the scorn of the unenlightened local.

The scorn of Friscans. Another entry to put on the list of things I give a rat's ass.

Mike Laursen | March 15, 2008, 2:43am | #

The Competitive Enterprise Institute, still doing their bestest to discredit any serious skepticism about global warming. At least they squeezed in a few salient points here and there between the personal attacks and the amateurish production.

Mike Laursen | March 15, 2008, 2:57am | #

Progressive's so tired
Let us polka 'til we drop
Welk straps on his axe

J sub D | March 15, 2008, 2:46pm | #

The scorn of Friscans. Another entry to put on the list of things I give a rat's ass.

I have very fond memories from visiting San Francisco. I wouldn't want to live there, but it is a fine place for a horny young man. As a lovely exotic dancer complained to me during afterglow, "There's too many fags and weirdos here. It's hard to find a normal straight guy". I considered the reduced competition a huge benefit.

Art-P.O.G. | March 16, 2008, 5:49am | #

It's hard to find a normal straight guy

Hey, at least you can be a libertarian and still considered normal in San Fran.

JD | March 16, 2008, 11:56am | #

Oh, come on, Art-P.O.G. A normal libertarian? There are limits to our gullibility, you know.

re: the British story, it feels to me like this is one of those cases where both sides are so odious they deserve each other.

"I think in this day and age of a global world, I would find it very hard to swear allegiance to one country," said Clarissa Williams, vice president of the National Assn. of Head Teachers, who said she was not certain her students would want to take the pledge.

"I honestly feel we are citizens of the world, not just one country," she said.

I'm kind of glad our grandfathers didn't feel the same way, Ms. Williams, because otherwise we might have one unified world, and it would be speaking German. You'd think the British wouldn't need Yet Another reminder that not everyone shares their warm and fuzzy views.