Comments by zappa
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Posted on May 17 at 7:27 p.m.
Wasn't there some sort of major event here 200 plus years ago that did away with all this imaginary title nonsense?
No one is a "lord" or "lady" except in one's febrile imagination.
Oh, and pip, pip for now.
On Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree Named Honorary Alumna of UC Santa Barbara
Posted on May 15 at 4:10 p.m.
Food Inc., an interesting film on many levels, tried to make the same point as the Public Health Department employee quoted above.
I didn't buy it then either. One segment of the film followed a family who were not transportation-challenged, but didn't have the time (or adequate funds supposedly) to prepare healthy meals so subsisted on fast food consumed on the way to work, school drop-offs etc. The most basic PB and J made with store brand ingredients, water and an apple (akin to what I send my kids off with) would be better, and likely cheaper, than the fast food glop these people were consuming daily and feeding to their kids. To top it off, the father of the family suffered from a myriad of health problems, at least some related to poor diet, and had to take expensive medications. It can't _always_ be about excuses and the need for_still more_ education.
At some point, people need to step up and make informed choices based on the information that is readily at hand and freely available to all, including non-English speakers.
One of those choices may be to learn to tune out the fast food advertising and, at the very least, feed your kids well. It is possible, even on a strict/limited budget, to do so in the SB area, including IV.
Posted on May 11 at 6:36 a.m.
I just reread the NW piece and he makes none of the assertions that this writer claims. FWIW, I did find the Falk essay to which he refers (and perhaps implicitly defends) to be troubling on several levels. Perhaps that's the person to whom this writer should be directing his own "diatribe" here.
On Naive Notion
Posted on May 4 at 3:43 p.m.
Yes, I read it and I erred in referring to a "remark," when timing, intent and overall tone are the key issues. You do know that he issued a retraction of sorts ( a "clarification") denying he intended any "causal linkage" between the bombing and U.S. policy.
I also thought it was incredibly weaselly that in his original essay he quoted anonymous callers to a PBS radio show as evidence of what he seemed to believe was a more enlightened attitude, viz. seeing the Marathon bombing as a form of "retribution" and not "surprising" in light of US policies.
Posted on May 4 at 2:46 p.m.
Sorry, but it takes no "balls" to make such a pronouncement from a tenured academic position at a university. It was a grossly intemperate remark, from which he has tried to backtrack, and it was more than appropriate that he's been called out and castigated for it.
Posted on May 3 at 9:44 a.m.
FWIW, Benny Morris has changed his tune significantly in recent years re Israel/Palestine.
Am no fan of Netanyahu, but the attempted play on his name reminds me of the teabilly-types who refer to the President as "Obummer" and such things.
Lame is lame.
Posted on May 2 at 9:50 a.m.
"But his timing was stupid. Perhaps he could have waited ’til the blood had dried from the streets of Boston."
There's the answer regarding the vitriol. No matter where one stands on the many complexities of the Israel/Palestine "issue," Falk's painfully ill-advised comments can only be seen as providing yet more fuel for those who rail against the myopia of "academic leftists" and such. Demagoguery of any political stripe should be challenged although the knee-jerk "anti-Semite" stuff is beyond tiresome and always needlessly clouds any attempt at honest debate.
Posted on May 2 at 9:31 a.m.
EB: "It turns out the more affluent parents have a tendency to contextualize the stories with their kids lives wheras the less affluent parents had a tendency to focus the kids more on objects illustrated in the books, etc."
So, is it about parents being "affluent" or being something else that oftentimes gets rather too dicey to discuss?
Sure, socio-economic factors may play a role, but they needn't serve always as an excuse. My family was dirt poor, not educated at all, but my mom read to me (I doubt she "contextualized" anything) and made sure I got a library card early on at my local public library because we couldn't afford to buy books. Those things changed my life and were instrumental in my being able to move up a few rungs at least on that societal ladder.
Posted on April 30 at 6:24 p.m.
Probably hard to nurture a reform movement if the adherents of this sect are viewed as apostates subject to death sentences by the majority. It also seems unlikely that the U.S. would wish to do much more to anger our dubious (and already angry) "ally," Pakistan.
"Should we intervene militarily in Syria if it's proven they used the sarin gas? (I say no.)"
I agree, a resounding no!
Isn't there an Arab League (of which Syria was until recently a member) that has at least some theoretical authority in the region? Maybe time for its members (and other Arab states) to step up and maybe let the "Great Satan" off the hook. If regional powers handled their own regional messes, there would be excuse (if and when there ever is) for the U.S. or Europe to intervene.
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Posted on May 23 at 9:12 p.m.
Yeah, right, even "Dr." Laura may be more legit:
http://www.quackwatch.org/04ConsumerE...
On Bragg Health Institute Installs Greenhouse at San Marcos High School