TexDOT making it harder to get a military honor license plates WOAI's Michael Board
A pair of Texas veterans are waging war against phonies who use fake documents to get license plates that are reserved for real war heroes.
"They think I'm going to shoot them or ring their neck or cut their ears off. They're cowards!" Dick Agnew tells 1200 WOAI news radio. "People say, 'Dick, you have to be careful. Someone's going to shoot at you.' Hell, they wouldn't be shooting at a virgin. I've been shot at lots of times and I'm still around."
The commander of the North Texas Legion of Valor chapter and recipient of the Army Distinguished Service Cross nearly blew his top when he saw a car at the Dallas/Fort Worth airport with a Legion of Merit license plate. It wasn't anybody who he knew, so he called his buddy Don Mason in San Antonio, who heads the local chapter. Mason, who was awarded the Navy Cross in the Korean War, didn't recognize the driver either.
"Our feelings were really hurt," he says. "These wanna-be's were really idiots."
The pair went to Austin, where they met with the Texas Department of Transportation.
"Tex-Dot was only asking for a discharge certificate, which has your history on it," Mason says.
That form, which is called a DD214, can easily be found on the internet, and can be altered by a scam artist, so it looks like the owner received war medals that they didn't.
"We were, first of all, surprised and really grateful they came in." TexDOT spokeswoman Kim Sue Lia Perkes tells WOAI radio. "We immediately said, 'We have to get on this and figure out a better way to scrutinize the information.'"
The department worked with Mason and Agnew to investigate these special license plate applications. The result? Fourteen of the 67 Legion of Merit plates that were on the road in Texas were owned by people who fudged their military record. TexDOT send out letters, and so far, Perkes says 11 have been returned.
Mason says their job is to now find the other three.
"I don't want to do any more to them. They served their country and they did something wrong and we corrected it. That's the end of it as far as I'm concerned."
Agnew is a little more direct.
"I call them a liar. I call them a scumbag. I call them dirt. They're lower than dirt. If there's any such thing, they're it. I tell 'em, 'You're a cheat. You're a federal criminal.' They'll just sit there and listen to you... and say, 'Sir, it's all true."
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Hillary Clinton boosts Obama; next up, Bill
Now the Democratic convention spotlight turns to her husband, as former President Bill Clinton takes to the prime-time television stage Wednesday evening. He is expected to launch attacks on the Republican's presumptive presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain, and on the Bush administration.
Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, Obama's choice as a running mate, will get prime-time exposure as well.
Hillary Clinton, who won 18 million votes but still failed to earn her party's nomination, planned to meet with delegates who still want to cast ballots for her during the nominating roll call Wednesday evening - a symbolic move before Obama is nominated, presumably by acclamation. Clinton has not indicated whether she would have her name placed in nomination or seek a formal roll call vote.
Clinton's aides said it remained unclear how exactly the meeting with the delegates would play out, or how her supporters will react.
"It's not Hillary's job to bring this party together,'' said Jennie Lou Leeder, a Clinton delegate from Llado, Texas. "It's Barack Obama's job to bring this party together.''
It's the kind of talk that Clinton tried to discourage. "I want you to ask yourselves: Were you in this campaign just for me?'' she said Tuesday night in her convention speech, addressing her supporters. (You can watch it below)
Clinton used her prime-time convention appearance to try to silence infighting over how to honor Clinton's campaign without distracting from Obama's upcoming contest against McCain. "Barack Obama is my candidate, and he must be our president,'' she said.
Even so, bringing the Democratic Party together is going to take more than a single speech. The best unifier among Democrats going into the final sprint might just be McCain. "Arizonans are also proud of their political tradition, from Barry Goldwater to Mo Udall to Bruce Babbitt. There's a pattern here,'' Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano told delegates Tuesday as part of the chorus eviscerating McCain. Goldwater, Udall and Babbitt all sought the presidency; none succeeded.
"Speaking for myself, and for at least this coming election, this is one Arizona tradition I'd like to see continue,'' Napolitano said.
Republicans, meanwhile, struggled for a bit of the spotlight. McCain has been airing commercials quoting critical comments from Obama's former rivals. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a potential running mate for McCain, came to Denver and said, "Barack Obama is a charming and fine person with a lovely family, but he's not ready to be president.''
Bill Clinton, whose reputation took some hits during the primary season, stayed away from his wife and daughter Chelsea - who introduced her mother on stage Tuesday evening. Instead, he watched his wife's speech from convention floor box seats.
Tuesday August 26,2008
Tuesday 08-26-2008 4:42pm CT
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Michelle Puts Family First
Democrats opening their national convention tried to smooth over a rift with Hillary Clinton's resentful supporters on Monday and portrayed Barack Obama as a down-to-earth American patriot bidding to make history.
Chairman Howard Dean pounded a gavel to start the four-day convention where Democrats say their presidential candidate must unite the party, get tough on Republican rival John McCain and back up soaring oratory with specific policies.
The aim of the first day was to frame Obama's personal story, the son of a black man from Kenya and white woman from Kansas who spent his early years in Hawaii and Indonesia, worked his way through college and began his political career as a community organizer in Chicago.
His wife, Michelle Obama, headlined the opening night. In front of a huge crowd waving "Michelle" signs, she said her husband represented typical American values, rejecting Republican charges that Obama is an aloof celebrity.
"What struck me when I first met Barack was that even though he had this funny name, and even though he'd grown up all the way across the continent in Hawaii, his family was so much like mine," she said.
"He was raised by grandparents who were working class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did," she said.
Michelle Obama also put a gloss on her own assertive personality. She has drawn fire from Republicans for saying she only recently became proud of her country.
"I come here as a wife who loves my husband and believes he will be an extraordinary president. I come here as a mom whose girls are the heart of my heart and the center of my world," she said. He also played down divisions with the Clintons, Hillary and Bill, the former president still stewing over having been accused by Obama of trying to inject racial politics into the Democrats' primary battle earlier this year.
"I am absolutely convinced that both Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton understand the stakes," Obama told reporters in Moline, Illinois.
In an emotional high point, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, 76, a symbol of Democratic liberalism who is battling brain cancer, appeared before the cheering crowd after a videotaped tribute to his long political life.
"My fellow Americans, it is so wonderful to be here," said Kennedy. "And nothing -- nothing -- is going to keep me away from this special gathering tonight."
Casting a cloud over the convention was ongoing resentment from supporters of New York Sen. Clinton, miffed that she lost the nomination and upset that she was not picked as Obama's vice presidential running mate. Obama chose veteran Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, who arrived at the convention on Monday.
Clinton, speaking to sign-waving supporters from her home state delegation before the convention began, urged party unity.
"We are after all Democrats, so it may take a while," she said. "We're not the fall-in-line party. We are diverse. But make no mistake, we are unified," she said.
The teacher who greeted your child in class should have undergone a background check mandated by the state. But you may be surprised to know there's a good chance they haven't been tested for illegal drugs.
Several teachers have been arrested for drug-related charges in the recent past, which begs the questions: Is mandatory fingerprinting enough?
A fourth-grade teacher was accused of possessing marijuana. Investigators say she admitted to smoking weed during class breaks.
An elementary school teacher was accused of buying heroin, and a local special education teacher confessed to trying to buy marijuana and cocaine near a park.
Last year, the state legislature enacted a law mandating fingerprinting. SAISD discovered 291 teachers had criminal records, 21 of them for drugs and narcotics.
So far, Hawaii is the first state to mandate random drug testing after several arrests of high-profile teachers. But the teacher's union there argues testing teachers without suspicion violates their constitutional rights, and only certain teachers should be singled out.
Though a majority of teachers agreed to random testing to get a pay raise, the school board says $400,000 to test 13,000 teachers robs the classroom of resources.
Closer to home, a district in North Texas isn't far behind. After a massive marijuana bust at a high school teacher's home, Frenship ISD is considering mandatory drug testing.
Locally, SAISD tests bus drivers and food service employees. And that's only before they are hired. The cost was $12,000 last year.
Of the largest local districts, Northside, Northeast and SAISD administer drug tests if there's a reasonable suspicion. All three test their drivers before they're hired. The testing is federal law, but the districts have to pay for it. ENTIRE ARTICLE
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9 year-old Kicked off Baseball Team for being too Good
Nine-year-old Jericho Scott is a good baseball player -- too good, it turns out.
The right-hander has a fastball that tops out at about 40 mph. He throws so hard that the Youth Baseball League of New Haven told his coach that the boy could not pitch any more. When Jericho took the mound anyway last week, the opposing team forfeited the game, packed its gear and left, his coach said.
Officials for the three-year-old league, which has eight teams and about 100 players, said they will disband Jericho's team, redistributing its players among other squads, and offered to refund $50 sign-up fees to anyone who asks for it. They say Jericho's coach, Wilfred Vidro, has resigned.
But Vidro says he didn't quit and the team refuses to disband. Players and parents held a protest at the league's field Saturday, urging the league to let Jericho pitch.
"He's never hurt any one," Vidro said. "He's on target all the time. How can you punish a kid for being too good?"
The controversy bothers Jericho, who says he misses pitching.
"I feel sad," he said. "I feel like it's all my fault nobody could play."
Jericho's coach and parents say the boy is being unfairly targeted because he turned down an invitation to join the defending league champion, which is sponsored by an employer of one of the league's administrators. ENTIRE ARTICLE
Monday August 25,2008
Monday 08-25-2008 3:22pm CT
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Bush blames Democrats for high gas prices
President Bush on Saturday blamed the Democratic-led Congress for the high cost of gasoline and renewed his call for expanded offshore drilling to increase U.S. oil supplies.
"To reduce pressure on prices, we need to increase the supply of oil, especially oil produced here at home," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
Congress left for the August recess without a solution to fuel prices. In a bid to force a vote on offshore drilling, Republicans blocked Democratic proposals to use the nation's petroleum reserve, curb oil speculation and require oil companies to drill on already leased federal lands.
The president, who is vacationing at his Texas ranch, said Americans support expanded exploration of oil in areas that include the Outer Continental Shelf. The shelf is the shallow, sloping land that stretches for miles undersea between the coastline and the deep ocean.
New oil drilling is only allowed now in federal waters in the western Gulf of Mexico and off Alaska.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., signaled last week the Democrats' position could be shifting. With energy legislation to be introduced after Congress returns, lawmakers will be able to "consider opening portions of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling, with appropriate safeguards, and without taxpayer subsidies to Big Oil," she said.
But Bush said the Democrats are pushing a plan that would reduce domestic production and drain the country's emergency oil supply.
"Democratic leaders know that these counterproductive proposals will not become law," Bush said. "They need to stop standing in the way of expanding domestic production and take meaningful steps now to address the pain caused by high energy prices."
Bush said offshore drilling can be done in an "environmentally responsible" way. Experts believe production from below the ocean can produce nearly 10 years' worth of America's current annual oil output, he said.
"When Congress returns they should remove this restriction so we can get these vast oil resources from the ocean floor to your gas tank," Bush said.
The president also said Congress should lift a ban that blocks access to oil shale on federal lands. Oil shale, a sedimentary rock, can be mined and processed to produce oil.
And lawmakers should extend tax credits to encourage the development of alternative sources of energy such as wind and solar, Bush said.
"This Congress has been one of the most unproductive on record. They've failed to address the challenge of high gas prices," the president said. "They need to send me a bill next month that I can sign so we can bring relief to drivers, small business owners, farmers and ranchers and every American affected by high prices at the pump."
----------- "It's not about the names on the back of the jerseys ... but the 3 letters on the front" -D Wade
One by one, the mem bers of Team USA's basketball squad left the court after winning the men's gold medal to grasp the hand of NBC commentator Doug Collins.
They were making good on a promise.
A promise to win gold, which they did by defeating Spain 118-107, for the teams before who fell short. Collins knows the hollow feeling of having the best players and not winning it all. His 1972 squad was the first American team not to win Olympic gold.
Instead, after the final :03 seconds were played three times, it was the Soviet Union's national anthem that was played. And it was the hammer and sickle raised to the rafters above the Stars and Stripes.
The Soviets received the gold medals the Americans protested belonged to them. No one went out to receive their silver medals. Ever. No one on the team has requested his medal. Some have instructed their heirs never to try and collect.
Since then the Americans have won gold, boycotted, been boycotted, won gold again under new rules, and in the last four games, ridiculed as spoiled, unpatriotic NBA clods in it only for themselves.
This team was out to change all that. Led by Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, this squad, known by the clever moniker "Redeem Team," put country first.
Instead of holing up in some posh hotel and making fools of themselves like their pompous Dream Team predecessors, this team was visible. The players cheered on their countrymen and women at the Bird's Nest, at the beach volleyball stadium, at the Water Cube and at every USA women's basketball game.
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Rep. Jackson compares Obama to Jackie Robinson
Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) told convention-goers Monday that Barack Obama is like baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson — enduring jeers without the ability to hit back.
“Barack Obama has the capacity to hit,” Jackson said a breakfast panel just before the opening of the Democratic National Convention. “But he is in the situation where he can’t hit back, which Jackie Robinson could not do. … He had to be able to run the bases, even though the crowd was jeering the first African-American on the field.”
Jackson, son of the civil rights leader, said Obama is in the same situation: “He has to keep smiling, because no one wants an angry African-American man in the White House.”
Speaking at a panel presented by Yahoo News, Politico and The Denver Post, Jackson added that party skeptics need to have “a Pee Wee Reese moment" — a reference to the Kentucky-born Brooklyn Dodgers shortstop who famously embraced Robinson on the field when the African-American broke baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
“When they have a camera put in their faces, they will have an opportunity to put their arm around our guy so that he can run the bases,” Jackson said. “Hillary Clinton will have a Pee Wee Reese moment. Bill Clinton will have a Pee Wee Reese moment. [Pennsylvania Gov.] Ed Rendell will have a Pee Wee Reese moment.”
House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) added that Obama has "got to show he’s able to hit. He’s got to show he’s capable of running the bases. That’s whether the rubber meets the road.”
Despite Jackson’s prediction that the Clintons would help Obama this week, though, former Virginia Gov. Douglas Wilder, who endorsed Obama during the primaries, expressed frustration with some foot-dragging by the Clintons and their supporters.
“What does Barack Obama have to do to convince Clinton supporters that he’s capable of being president of the United States?” Wilder asked.
Now mayor of Richmond, Wilder drew laughter by adding: “You want to speak? Fine. You want to speak, Bill? Fine. You want to be vice president? No. Beyond that, what else can I do? What do you want me to do?”
Wilder also raised the possibility that some voters were turned off by Obama’s race.
“I think you’re going to have a number of people who give you an excuse for not voting for a person,” Wilder said. “I’m not at all suggesting race. But I’m not eliminating race.”
Clinton supporters were not the only ones who came in for some criticism: Jackson also attacked Obama’s Republican opponent, John McCain, for having “so many keys” to so many houses that “he doesn’t know where he is at any given moment” — which could be taken as a reference to Arizona senator’s age. He turns 72 on Friday.
The pioneering politicians who spoke at the panel examined the implications of the campaign by the nation’s first African-American presidential nominee, and whether the country is ready for a black president.
Another panel member, radio and television host Tavis Smiley, said expectations for Obama have become so high that “even Jesus Christ himself might not be able to respond.”
“We have really missed the boat in this campaign on covering race,” Smiley said. “I look at how quick we were to jump on the language of ‘post-racial,’ the language of ‘race transcendence.’ That’s not possible yet in America."
Smiley also criticized the media’s tendency to sugarcoat coverage, asserting: “Nobody’s lying, nobody’s flip-flopping — everyone’s pivoting.”
Clyburn said an Obama victory “will be a redefinition of politics in America, it will be a redefinition of the Democratic Party.”
Wilder agreed, asserting that Obama’s election would also "provide a new era for America to assert its leadership in the world.”
Also, Wilder said Obama “has a shot in Virginia," which has voted Republican in recent presidential races, "to the extent that he continues to meet with people — let them look him in the eye, shake hands, let them ask him a question, answer that question.”
Friday August 22,2008
Friday 08-22-2008 1:26pm CT
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States push laws to require paid sick days
Some 46 million U.S. workers lack paid sick days, but lawmakers in 12 states - including California, Connecticut, Minnesota and West Virginia - have proposed legislation in the past year that would require businesses to provide them.
Dale Butland of Ohioans for Healthy Families, an advocacy group pushing a November ballot initiative that would require employers to offer paid sick days, said the effort picked up steam in Columbus and other state capitals because federal legislation has stalled. "This is the next frontier in assuring workplaces are safe,'' said Kate Kahan, director of the work and family program at the Washington-based National Partnership for Women & Families, which lobbies on paid sick leave and other workplace and health care issues.
Businesses - especially small companies - argue that forcing them to offer paid sick days hinders their ability to provide a flexible array of benefits, such as a mix of vacation and personal days that also may be used by employees when they are sick. And they say it's a costly new mandate for businesses already struggling through a contracting economy.
Bills requiring paid sick days were rejected or allowed to die in several state legislatures. Maine lawmakers rejected a paid sick leave bill. And for the second consecutive year, legislation died in the Connecticut House of Representatives after the state Senate passed it, leading a key Senate backer to say she's lost hope.
"Unless some kind of miracle happens, I don't see it,'' said Sen. Edith Prague, a Democrat from eastern Connecticut.
But in several other states _ Alaska, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia _ legislation failed when lawmakers refused to take up paid sick leave bills before legislative deadlines passed, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families. In California, legislation passed the Assembly but is dead for the legislative session after being held in a Senate committee. The bill's author said she plans to reintroduce it next year.
Nearly all large companies already offer paid sick leave to at least some of their workers, but state and federal mandates could require them to expand the benefit.
Kahan and other workers' advocates believe paid sick time should be an employment standard, like the federal minimum wage.
Advocates say the benefit is particularly needed for employees who handle food or work with children.
Aine, who drives Stamford students ages of 3 to 17 to school, cited that as a reason he would like to have the financial flexibility to stay home when he's sick.
"It's not just for me, but for the people you drive,'' he said.
The federal Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that 43 percent of the private industry labor force worked in 2007 without paid sick time, a group primarily made up of low-paid employees at small businesses.
Workers advocates' have been pushing the issue since 1993, when the Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law, requiring employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year. While federal legislation was first proposed in 2004, it may have a shot at passing next year if Democrats control the White House and Congress after the November elections, said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn
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Ginobili leaves Argentina-USA semifinal
Argentine star Manu Ginobili, the team's leading scorer, left Friday's men's basketball Olympic semifinal against the United States, aggravating a left ankle injury.
Ginobili departed with 6:21 left in the opening quarter and the Argentine's trailing 14-4. He didn't return and Argentina lost, 101-81.
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Michael Phelps to write a new book
Olympic superstar Michael Phelps will write a book telling the story behind his historic eight gold medal swims just in time for the holiday season, Free Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, announced Friday.
In "Built to Succeed," Phelps will also cover his philosophy on training and competition, as well as his life being raised by a single mother and coping with an attention-deficit disorder, the publisher said.
The book is scheduled to be released in December.
Phelps, 23, became the winningest Olympian ever at this summer's Beijing games, winning eight golds to add to six previous Olympic first-place victories. He holds seven world records
Thursday August 21,2008
Thursday 08-21-2008 2:16pm CT
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Are ads on a school bus taking it too far?
The Humble ISD says it has a $17-million budget shortfall, so it has to do something.
The district's Karen Collier says it's not bubble gum or fast food or things that directly appeal to kids.
"Goodson Honda will be one of the early players in it, the Ampco System Parking as well as Kids Place Daycare and Even Choice Homes."
Janet Huberty is manager of Steep Creek Media -- the company creating the school bus ads. "They're applied using heat, they don't fade. When we want to remove them we apply heat again and they peel right off, just sort of like a bumper sticker on the back of a car."
Clear Channel marketing expert Bill Fogarty says he understands. "School districts are under incredible pressure and taxpayers are having to provide substantial sums to maintain our schools. I don't find it offensive."
Humble is the second Texas school district to try school bus ads. The first is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
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Rogge says Bolt should 'show more respect'
International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge spoke out Thursday against the celebratory gestures made by Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt during his record-breaking performances in the 100 and 200 metre races.
The IOC president praised the achievements of Bolt, 22, comparing him to American great Jesse Owens. But Rogge was critical of Bolt's gestures towards the end of the 100 final and accused him of showing a lack of respect for his fellow competitors.
"I have no problem with him doing a show," Rogge said in an interview with three international news agency reporters. "I think he should show more respect for his competitors and shake hands, give a tap on the shoulder to the other ones immediately after the finish and not make gestures like the one he made in the 100 metres."
In that 100 final, Bolt deliberately slowed near the finish, looked around with arms outstretched and pounded his chest as crossed the finish line in a world record time of 9.69 seconds.
"I understand the joy," Rogge said. "He might have interpreted that in another way, but the way it was perceived was 'Catch me if you can.' You don't do that. But he'll learn. He's still a young man."
On Wednesday, Bolt ran 19.30 seconds into a slight headwind to blow away the field in the 200 final to break American Michael Johnson's 12-year-old record, but he was much more subdued during the race. He didn't slow down and even leaned forward as he crossed the line.
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Hallmark Introduces Gay Marriage Cards
Most states don't recognize gay marriage -- but now Hallmark does.
The nation's largest greeting card company is rolling out same-sex wedding cards -- featuring two tuxedos, overlapping hearts or intertwined flowers, with best wishes inside. "Two hearts. One promise," one says.
Hallmark added the cards after California joined Massachusetts as the only U.S. states with legal gay marriage. A handful of other states have recognized same-sex civil unions.
The language inside the cards is neutral, with no mention of wedding or marriage, making them also suitable for a commitment ceremony. Hallmark says the move is a response to consumer demand, not any political pressure.
"It's our goal to be as relevant as possible to as many people as we can," Hallmark spokeswoman Sarah Gronberg Kolell said.
Hallmark's largest competitor, American Greetings Corp., has no plans to enter the market, saying its current offerings are general enough to speak to a lot of different relationships.
Hallmark started offering "coming out" cards last year, and the four designs of same-sex marriage cards are being gradually released this summer and will be widely available by next year. No sales figures were available yet.
"When I have shopped for situations like babies or weddings for gay friends I have good luck in quirky stores," said Kathryn Hamm, president of the Web site gayweddings.com.
"But if you are just in a generic store ... the bride and groom symbol or words are in most cards," she said. "It becomes difficult to find some that are neutral but have some style."
The Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law estimates that more than 85,000 same-sex couples in the United States have entered into a legal relationship since 1997, when Hawaii started offering some legal benefits to same-sex partners.
It estimates nearly 120,000 more couples will marry in California during the next three years -- and that means millions of potential dollars for all sorts of wedding-industry businesses.
Hallmark, known more for its Midwest mores than progressive greetings, has added a wider variety lately. It now offers cards for difficulty getting pregnant or going through rehab.
It pulled a controversial card that featured the word "queer" in the punch line after it was criticized by some customers and gay magazine The Advocate last year. At any given time, Hallmark has 200 different wedding cards on the market, including some catering to interracial or inter-religious marriages and blended families.
The Greeting Card Association, a trade group, says it does not track how many companies provide same-sex cards but believes the number is expanding.
"The fact that you have someone like Hallmark going into that niche shows it's growing and signals a trend," said Barbara Miller, a spokeswoman for the association.
Rob Fortier, an independent card maker who runs his company, Paper Words, out of New York, added same-sex wedding cards to his mix after thinking about what he would want to receive.
"A lot of people think a gay greeting card needs a rainbow on it," Fortier said. "I don't want that."
But for some time, it was difficult to even find the words for what anyone wanted to say, he said.
His first card poked fun at the challenge. On the outside it featured lines that had been scratched out: "Congratulations on being committed!", "Congratulations on being unionized!" and, finally, "Congratulations on being domestically partnered!" The inside wished the couple congratulations on choosing to be together forever.
"It really comes down to language," he said.
John Stark, one of the three founders of Three Way Design in Boston, which makes gay-themed cards for occasions from adoption to weddings, has several new designs sketched out and ready.
But he has hesitated adding more wedding cards to his mix until after the November election, when California voters will decide a constitutional amendment that would again limit marriage to a man and a woman in the state.
"What is scary is to produce a marriage line and then
November comes and it's recalled, then we have thousands of dollars of inventory waiting," he said.
The gay-friendly business can be challenging, companies said.
Hamm said although she has found many vendors willing to work with her company, some have asked to be removed from the Web site because of hate mail or some other backlash.
Hallmark says all of its stores can choose whether they want to add the latest offerings.
---------- Louisiana Governor won't Renew Anti-Discrimination Order
An anti-discrimination order put in place by former Governor Kathleen Blanco won't be renewed by Governor Bobby Jindal.
The order prohibited various sorts of harassment and discrimination at all state offices, including discrimination by race, sexual orientation and political affiliation. It expires Friday.
Jindal says discrimination is prohibited under state and federal laws and he doesn't want to create additional special categories by executive order. He also said Wednesday that he worried it could cause problems with faith-based organizations' ability to contract with the state.
The order by Blanco stirred up complaints at the time it was issued. Conservative groups derided the executive order while gay rights groups applauded it.
Wednesday August 20,2008
Wednesday 08-20-2008 4:45pm CT
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Stores reward hybrid drivers with choice parking spaces
Wheelchair users and others with limited mobility have long had access to prime parking spaces. Then expectant mothers got their own special spots. Now some stores are setting aside coveted parking close to the door for fuel-efficient hybrids.
Ikea has designated hybrid-only spaces across the U.S., including one at its Houston store on the Katy Freeway. Home Depot and Office Depot are trying out similar parking perks for fuel efficiency in Austin, Chicago and several other cities.
Weingarten Realty, which owns several close-in, high-traffic Houston retail developments — including a large chunk of the Rice Village and much of the West Gray strip — is looking into the concept.
"We have just begun evaluating potential programs but haven't fully developed a model," said Henry Lichtman, regional director of property management for Weingarten. He said adding any special program to recognize hybrid use will need strong buy-in from other businesses and possibly even local government to be meaningful.
Some cities are considering special parking for fuel efficient vehicles, or are experimenting with it.
For three years Los Angeles has let some hybrids and other vehicles that get more than 45 miles per gallon park for free.
Bruce Gillman, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Transportation, said the city offers free parking to any vehicle with the California Clean Air Vehicle Decal.
California leads the nation in hybrid sales this year, by a wide margin. The parking program has been so popular that the state ran out of decals for a time.
"Now there are four hybrids that can park free without the sticker," Gillman says. They are the Honda Insight, Toyota Prius, Ford Escape Hybrid and Honda Civic Hybrid.
The New York City Council has discussed a similar idea: letting hybrid drivers park free at city meters.
Houston has considered giving preferential parking to hybrids at the city's airports, but Cris Eugster, chief sustainability officer for Mayor Bill White, says it's not clear whether that actually provides incentive for motorists to purchase hybrids.
"We'd rather lead by example," he says, noting that White drives a Prius.
Hybrid vehicles pair internal combustion and electric motors, using the electric motor at low speeds and in stop-and-start driving, and the internal combustion motor at cruising speeds.
Houston recently purchased its 500th hybrid vehicle for the city's fleet, and the Metropolitan Transit Authority has committed to buying about 100 hybrid buses a year for a total of 450 in 2011.
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Study finds Minorities more likely to be Paddled
Paddlings, swats, licks. A quarter of a million schoolchildren got them last year — and blacks, American Indians and kids with disabilities got a disproportionate share of the punishment, according to a study by a human rights group.
Even little kids can be paddled. Heather Porter, who lives in Crockett, Texas, was startled to hear her little boy, then 3, say he'd been spanked at school. Porter was never told, despite a policy at the public preschool that parents be notified.
"We were pretty ticked off, to say the least. The reason he got paddled was because he was untying his shoes and playing with the air conditioner thermostat," Porter said. "He was being a 3-year-old."
For the study, which was being released today, Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union used Education Department data to show that, while paddling has been declining, racial disparity persists. Researchers also interviewed students, parents and school personnel in Texas and Mississippi, states that account for 40 percent of the 223,190 kids who were paddled at least once in the 2006-2007 school year.
Porter could have filled out a form telling the school not to paddle her son, if only she had realized he might be paddled.
Yet many parents find that such forms are ignored, the study said.
Widespread paddling can make it unlikely that forms will be checked. A teacher interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Tiffany Bartlett, said that when she taught in the Mississippi Delta, the policy was to lock the classroom doors when the bell rang, leaving stragglers to be paddled by an administrator patrolling the hallways. Bartlett now is a school teacher in Austin, Texas.
And even if schools make a mistake, they are unlikely to face lawsuits. In places where corporal punishment is allowed, teachers and principals generally have legal immunity from assault laws, the study said.
"One of the things we've seen over and over again is that parents have difficulty getting redress, if a child is paddled and severely injured, or paddled in violation of parents' wishes," said Alice Farmer, the study's author.
A majority of states have outlawed it, but corporal punishment remains widespread across the South. Behind Texas and Mississippi were Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Florida and Missouri.
African American students are more than twice as likely to be paddled. The disparity persists even in places with large black populations, the study found. Similarly, Native Americans were more than twice as likely to be paddled, the study found. ENTIRE ARTICLE
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Record-setting Michael Phelps emulates Mark Spitz on Sports Illustrated cover
Tuesday August 19,2008
Tuesday 08-19-2008 3:52pm CT
Video of the Day:
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College presidents seek debate on drinking age
College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18.
The movement called the Amethyst Initiative began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate about the drinking age.
"This is a law that is routinely evaded,'' said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory.''
Other prominent schools in the group include Syracuse, Tufts, Colgate, Kenyon and Morehouse.
But even before the presidents begin the public phase of their efforts, which may include publishing newspaper ads in the coming weeks, they are already facing sharp criticism.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving says lowering the drinking age would lead to more fatal car crashes. It accuses the presidents of misrepresenting science and looking for an easy way out of an inconvenient problem. MADD officials are even urging parents to think carefully about the safety of colleges whose presidents have signed on.
"It's very clear the 21-year-old drinking age will not be enforced at those campuses,'' said Laura Dean-Mooney, national president of MADD.
Both sides agree alcohol abuse by college students is a huge problem.
Research has found more than 40 percent of college students reported at least one symptom of alcohol abuse or dependance. One study has estimated more than 500,000 full-time students at four-year colleges suffer injuries each year related in some way to drinking, and about 1,700 die in such accidents.
A recent Associated Press analysis of federal records found that 157 college-age people, 18 to 23, drank themselves to death from 1999 through 2005.
Moana Jagasia, a Duke University sophomore from Singapore, where the drinking age is lower, said reducing the age in the U.S. could be helpful.
"There isn't that much difference in maturity between 21 and 18,'' she said. "If the age is younger, you're getting exposed to it at a younger age, and you don't freak out when you get to campus.''
McCardell's group takes its name from ancient Greece, where the purple gemstone amethyst was widely believed to ward off drunkenness if used in drinking vessels and jewelry. He said college students will drink no matter what, but do so more dangerously when it's illegal.
The statement the presidents have signed avoids calling explicitly for a younger drinking age. Rather, it seeks "an informed and dispassionate debate'' over the issue and the federal highway law that made 21 the de facto national drinking age by denying money to any state that bucks the trend.
But the statement makes clear the signers think the current law isn't working, citing a "culture of dangerous, clandestine binge-drinking,'' and noting that while adults under 21 can vote and enlist in the military, they "are told they are not mature enough to have a beer.'' Furthermore, "by choosing to use fake IDs, students make ethical compromises that erode respect for the law.''
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Now Argentina's soccer team photographed making 'slit-eyed' gesture
The image shows players Maria Potassa, Eva Gonzalez, Fabiana Vallejos and Andrea Ojeda smiling broadly as they pull back the skin on the side of their eyes, in a crude impersonation of Chinese people.
The photo was published - without provoking controversy - in the Argentine sports newspaper Ole on Aug 5, to accompany a preview of the team’s first match of the tournament against Canada.
It was taken more than a week before adverts featuring the Spanish men’s and women’s basketball teams in similar poses sparked international criticism.
Last Thursday a photo emerged of members of Spain’s Olympic women’s tennis team pulling the same face earlier this year, in anticipation of an upcoming match against China.
The rows sparked by the photos have highlighted how standards about the acceptability of racial stereotyping vary widely between countries, even in the West.
Much of the criticism of the Spanish teams has come from the English-speaking blogosphere, prompting some complaints from Spain about alleged Anglo-Saxon hostility to Madrid’s 2016 Olympic bid.
The players involved in the photos have expressed their shock that others may find them offensive. Pau Gasol, one of the Spanish basketballers, said it was "absurd" to consider the gesture racist.
"I'm sorry if anybody thought or took it the wrong way and thought that it was offensive," he wrote on his blog.
Argentina’s women footballers had a torrid time at the Beijing Games, losing all their three games, including a 2-0 defeat to China in their final match.
The photo of the four players published in Ole was retrieved and posted on a Facebook group called ''Kick racist Spain out of the Olympics'', which was set up after after the Telegraph published the Spanish basketball pictures.
Shane du Barrie, the Briton of Mauritian descent of founded the Facebook group, says he was "astounded" and "upset" when he came across the images.
"Seeing another human being of another race or creed or religion having the mick taken out of them, it's just not on," he said.
There is no suggestion that the four footballers intended to cause offence. The Argentine Olympic team could not be contacted at the time of publication.
Monday August 18,2008
Monday 08-18-2008 4:41pm CT
Video of the Day:
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Was Sen. Barack Obama a citizen of Indonesia at any point in his life?
That question has been circulating on the blogosphere with increased fury the past few days, ever since a photograph emerged of Obama's school registration papers as a child in Indonesia – the world's most populous Muslim nation – showing the presidential candidate listed as a "Muslim" with "Indonesian" citizenship.
An investigation into Indonesian citizenship law and a review of Obama's biography and travels suggest the Illinois senator at one point may have been a citizen of Indonesia. That would not necessarily disqualify Obama to run for president, but it could raise loyalty concerns.
A 2007 Associated Press photograph taken by Tatan Syuflana, an Indonesian AP reporter and photographer, surfaced last week on the Daylife.com photographic website showing an image of Obama's registration card at Indonesia's Fransiskus Assisi school, a Catholic institution.
In the picture, Obama is registered under the name Barry Soetoro by his step-father, Lolo Soetoro. The school card lists Barry Soetoro as a Indonesian citizen born on August 4, 1961 in Honolulu, Hawaii. His religion is listed as Muslim.
Jack Stokes, manager of media relations for the AP, confirmed to WND the picture is indeed an AP photo. It was supposed to accompany an AP story last January refuting charges that Obama attended an Islamist school, but the picture was not used.
After attending the Assisi Primary School, Obama was later enrolled at SDN Menteng 1, an Indonesian public school.
Obama's campaign did not return repeated WND phone calls and e-mail queries the past week asking for a clarification regarding the school documentation listing the presidential candidate's citizenship as Indonesian.
Obama spokesmen have in the past stated the candidate is a natural-born citizen amid rumors he may have been born in his father's home country of Kenya, but the campaign has not addressed whether Obama became a citizen of Indonesia at any point.
----------- Church Group To Protest Hayes Memorial
The group is well known for protesting at the funerals of people who've died from AIDS or those in the military killed while on duty.
The Westboro Baptist Church website starts with the welcoming words, "Welcome depraved sons and daughters of Adam."
The group believes the United States has become an abomination in the eyes of God for numerous reasons.
The group says it will protest Hayes tribute because he used his musical gift not for God but to promote sex.
They also say it's because he worked in the entertainment industry where there are a lot of gay people and therefore he was complicit in their lifestyle.
The group says it will also protest the memorial of Bernie Mac.
Thursday August 14,2008
Thursday 08-14-2008 5:07pm CT
Video of the Day:
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McCain Won't Rule Out A Pro-Choice Veep
John McCain yesterday said he would not rule out picking a pro-choice running mate, a move seen as a boost for former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who joined the presumptive GOP nominee for two days of campaign events in his home state. However, McCain may simply have been throwing a bone to Ridge after seeming to indicate the former Homeland Security secretary would not be tapped in remarks to reporters in Erie.
The Washington Times reports McCain said Wednesday "that he would not rule out naming a pro-choice vice-presidential nominee, saying the abortion issue amounts to 'a disagreement' and that he thinks conservatives would accept former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, who is pro-choice, as a potential running mate." McCain told the Weekly Standard in an interview published on the magazine's Web site Wednesday afternoon, "Tom Ridge is one of the great leaders and he happens to be pro-choice. And I don't think that that would necessarily rule Tom Ridge out."
McCain To Unveil Tech Agenda The technologically-challenged McCain today will unveil a market-oriented plan for the tech sector. The Wall Street Journal reports, "Under fire for being a technophobe," McCain "will unveil a technology agenda that bundles previously announced pro-business proposals with continued support for a hands-off approach to regulation." The plan will "call for a 10% tax credit on wages paid to all research-and-development employees. At the same time, it will reiterate Sen. McCain's opposition to Internet taxes and new laws guaranteeing net neutrality, the idea that Internet providers must treat all legal Internet traffic equally."
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A woman learns to watch her language in public
When children are present, we might utter an expletive like "oh fudge". But that's not what Kathryn Fridge is accused of saying while looking for batteries before the arrival of Tropical Storm Edouard. La Marque Fire Chief Todd Zacherl says it's called something else. "It's called disorderly conduct is the official title of the charge."
Zacherl says Assistant Fire Marshal Alfred Decker heard the woman use the "f-word", and told her to watch her mouth.
"Originally, he was just going to... 'please don't use that type of language'. You know, there was children in the area and other families and stuff. All I can say is it appears that things escalated to the point where he had to take further action."
South Texas College of Law Professor Gerald Treece says it appears that's where she messed up: "She could have walked away from this if in fact she had merely stopped talking about whatever was vulgar or offensive."
But he adds, that's not illegal. "You have a right to be really upset at police officers, that's not the problem. You don't have a right, however, not to follow their lawful orders. If a policeman wants to stop me, I have to stop; if a policeman tells me to do something, I have to do it."
Decker is a licensed peace officer in Texas. Chief Zacherl says the disorderly conduct citation is not that unusual; it's normally issued to rowdy party-goers -- not Wal Mart shoppers.
-------- Tax Free Weekend
Items that are Tax Free
Baby clothes
Backpacks for use by elementary and secondary students
