Comment Archives: stories
Re: “Lovely Warren says city schools would be her first priority as mayor”
This is going to be an awesome campaign season. Cover it all, City! Cover it all.
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
MJN - My sarcasm meter jumped into the red zone with your post.
Your point is understood, well-made even.
However, even with the element of common-sense you bring, I can't get worked up in favor of any additional restriction - no matter how practical, reasonable or common-sensical - to any of our freedoms.
We have lost too many in the last few decades. Freedoms of communication (Patriot Act), against unreasonable search and seizure (TSA), loss of property to eminent domain (Kelo), federal minimum sentences and others... all these and more have led America away from being the beacon of liberty she used to be, and into the "modern" world of limited freedoms (in a macro sense) we live in today.
We may have plenty of day-to-day freedoms left (thank God for the 1st Amendment), but in a full understanding of where we've been and what we've done, we're less free today than we've been in a long, long time.
Until we regain some freedoms for Americans who aren't bankers, politicians or lobbyists, giving up ANY freedoms is a sacrifice no one should be willing to make.
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
Even commentators sympathetic to Prof. Obama are pointing out his incompetence on this one. A smarter politician would have focused on getting background checks done before the Newtown hysteria dissipated, rather than getting wrapped around the axle over bans that would never pass. Instead, thanks to his ivory tower cluelessness, the professor loses juice with nothing to show for it.
Of course, that analysis assumes he actually wanted to get something done. The fact is Obama said nothing about gun control either time he ran for president. His histrionics on the subject now is nothing but theater. And it is a particularly execrable example of victim porn, cynically calculated to agitate his lunatic fringe base for the midterms while shaking down his Hollywood sugar daddies.
Re: “Lovely Warren says city schools would be her first priority as mayor”
So Mrs. Warren, after her dis-honest fumbling of the issue of gay marriage (the only thing on her twitter feed other than self promottion are quotes from Rick Warren, champion against gay marriage in california), now has sided with Jeb Bush and the so called education "reformers" who believe that privatization , union busting and more endless testing are the solutions to urban education. The identity politics alarm system at City newspaper must be shooting sparks! By the way, if Ms. Warren's full time job is working for David Gantt, does anyone think she is working full time in his office only in that capacity? Isn't she then basically running for Mayor full time while being paid by Gantt? So isn't David Gantt essentially paying her to run for mayor right now? I'm not accusing her of running for mayor for monetary reasons, but isn't kind of weird that David Gantt is paying her salary while she runs? Alex White is running his own business whilst running for Mayor and Richards spends about 100 hrs a week being Mayor. Weird. And no one will ever ask about it.
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
Yugoboy - Good news! Despite the propaganda, misrepresentations and out right lies spewing from the NRA and their right wing accomplices, your freedom to purchase a firearm is not, and never was, in danger. The Constitution, including the Second Amendment is alive and well. Only those with a fevered imagination view it as being in the slightest shredded.
Neither Obama, nor Congress nor any state government has proposed or will propose that all firearms be banned or that those in private hands be confiscated. Your right to be shot by a friend or family member remains intact, as does the right of any citizen, law-abiding or not, to buy as much firepower as they can afford ij order to be able to and take out their wrath on innocent bystanders in schools, movie theaters and college campuses.
Re: “Lovely Warren says city schools would be her first priority as mayor”
Mrs. Lovely ought to be running for RCSD board President with those visions.
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Top 5 to Top 4)”
OF COURSE I missed a Donna Summer medley. Of course. I am listening to "Bad Girls" right now in protest. Stupid VCR...
It really is a strong Final 4. I think Kree's B2 appearance will likely help kick her into the F2. Her fans have supported her consistently throughout the season, and the fact that she just started having trouble this close to the finale means that they'll be super energized the next few weeks. Plus, she'll absorb all of Janelle's country votes. So I am predicting a Kree/Candice F2 right now.
I did not watch Clay's original season. I started with S3. But personally I found him awkward and manic last night. That little bit between him and Ryan was so weird. "A lot sure has changed since then!" "I miss Reuben right now." Mmhmm. I do think they should do an all-stars season (I can't imagine Fox is not pushing for that right now, given the massive ratings slide this season), and Clay would be an obvious pick for it. At this point many of the contestants who had signed to labels have lost their representation. I imagine they'd have a pretty hearty roster of singers to pick from, and since you'd skip all of the initial auditions/semi-finals it could be markedly shorter than a regular season...
Re: “Lovely Warren says city schools would be her first priority as mayor”
I applaud the focus of Lovely! Rather than telling us what we cannot afford and what we cannot do, she, is rolling out a plan with a solution to the most pressing problem we have! I do not know enough about school issues to say this will work...but, you never find answers without trying to find solutions. I, for one, will support someone with vision, not someone who tells us what we cannot do...we have that now!
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Top 5 to Top 4)”
(@ Susan: New York State....just south of Lake Ontario )
Damn. I wanted to hear what you thought of the group number. I tease you not, they did compilation of Donna Summer's hits. Most curious to get your take on it.
Cute that Paula came on and lovely that Dolly Parton wrote the note. She would be awesome as a judge but she is such a big personality and dresser etc, it might be brutal for anybody trying to get attention away from her. Mind you, they've managed this season with Nikki and Mariah. & you are right, Mariah, really focused in this week and said some very sweet things without rambling.
Agreed with the voting public....Janelle was the one to go and she should not have been saved.
One last thing: This is such a strong Top Four and totally likable/adorable.
Was Clay really weird?
Re: “"American Idol" 2013: Results (Top 5 to Top 4)”
Eric---
Somehow I happened onto your blog (all the way from Seattle) a few weeks ago. Your rundowns are spot on -- more importantly - written with a keen sense of humor. Such fun. Where in the hec is Rochester anyway?
Susan
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
Kathryn Quinn Thomas - that's not democracy... it's freedom.
Re: “Lovely Warren says city schools would be her first priority as mayor”
So Ms. Warren does not want mayoral control, but besides spending $119 million dollars for education that is administered by the Superintendent, with oversight by the School Board, she now wants to have the main focus of the mayors office also being education. If education is Ms. Warren's prime focus, she should run for Commisioner for the Board of Education rather than for mayor. If we don't have mayoral control, then the mayors office has other priorities that should take precedence.
Re: “From our cold, dead minds”
Thank you for your article. The Gun Lobby collective has been extremely cynical and manipulative. Speaking with those in my family that hunt and treat weapons with respect and caution, it is astounding how the leaderships of these organizations have been able to cloak their actions from their members. I guess it is the old 'mother and apple pie' strategy. It seems to have worked to obscure the areas in which all of us are pretty much in agreement: good record keeping, penalties for gun trafficking, better mental health services, safer gun engineering and a host of other items. The answer is to turn over the rocks and expose the underside. That is why modern data collection system are so feared. They fear the light.
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
Yikes! So if 90 percent of the country is in favor of background checks for gun and ammo purchases at conventions and on the Internet, which ARE NOT checked currently, meaning crazy people can purchase such weapons and show a up at a movie theater and kill people that could be my friends and family and that's democracy???
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
The Senate took a stand for freedom yesterday. Liberals have a lot of nerve trying to "shame" Americans into voting for laws that restrict our rights and do NOTHING to prevent gun violence. These opportunistic big government socialists got a taste of what they deserve.
Obama wants to turn American into one giant Chicago, and many Americans don't want that. Despite the nauseating propaganda shoved down our throats by the liberal media. So cheers to the Senate for taking a stand against this tyranny. It may have not been a good day for Obama, but it was a good day for freedom.
Re: “Self-serving Senate's failed gun control legislation”
I don't understand why the day was "shameful" or why people are all upset with Congress. I, for one, was a little worried that they might actually shave some more of our rights in the name of "safety."
For the first time since the sequester, I'm pretty happy with the fact that Congress worked as it was supposed to: protecting the rights of Americans. Congress isn't always supposed to bow to the will of the majority. Sometimes Congress' role is to maintain the rights of a minority.
First: when was the last time Congress worked to INCREASE our rights in any way?
The history of America in the last few decades has been one of reducing the freedoms of individuals and groups who are not in the majority or in power.
Almost every decision of the Congress since at least 9/11 has been to reduce and restrict freedoms of Americans and other global citizens (Patriot Act to name only 1)
Second: why write new laws when older laws could have a significant impact on the problem IF enforcement is implemented. Writing new laws isn't the same as enforcing them.
I don't own a handgun. Maybe I will in the future, maybe not. That decision isn't on my mind, BUT, the freedom to make that decision is. The Bill of Rights isn't an a la carte menu. It exists to protect our rights and freedoms.
We have become a nation of simpering cowards responding with panic and hyperbole at every rare, outlier event that has a negative result. Why? I have no idea except that we have also become a nation that worships its children. The "safety" of the children trumps the rights of free Americans everywhere.
Not if I can help it. Hurrah for the Constitution. It's not completely shredded yet.
Re: “PETA bringing campus tour to UR”
It said it was supposed to there today 10-3. I went at 2 and didn't see anything. Has the date been changed??
Re: “A surge of charters to Rochester?”
I think Mr. Klein is "supportive" of public schools in the same way Jean Claude Brizard was. Specifically, Brizard introduced a strategic plan in which the Parthenon Group (a capital investment firm specializing in opening up opportunities to generate investor profits in the public pK-12 "market." ) was the primary citation and basis for his discredited branding-style , charter-expanding portfolio approach to school choice. The article below demonstrates how Parthenon profers advice to investors that has nothing to do with improving education and everything to do with profits. The solutions to the crisis in education involve more democracy and less privatization, not the reverse. Democratization and powerful movements for local control of public education would minimize the perversions of profiteering "investors," but more importantly we would finally see learning focused on meeting our children's needs according to high community standards. Parthenon Group analysis of potential profit centers based on state funding (more is better) and anticipated test performance (lower is better): http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplace…
Re: “From our cold, dead minds”
We can't support every study that those in academia want. Find a cure for cancer, yes. Forget about those other ridiculous studies we gear about all the time, even if they sound "scientific" in nature. The most recent was a grant of our tax dollars to study male duck appendages:
(CNSNews.com) - The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”, according to the recovery.gov website.
If this is the kind of nonsense we are funding as "science", we certainly shouldn't be spending any taxpayer dollars on "political science".
Re: “A surge of charters to Rochester?”
Indeed Joe Klein helped bring former RCSD Superintendent Jean-Claude Brizard to Rochester. Joe had a plan then. He has one now (although in my humble, but informed view, it's a very, very bad plan, and even dangerous in some ways), at least he has a one, which raises the critically important question: WHAT IS THE ROCHESTER BOARD OF EDUCATION AND THE CURRENT SUPERINTENDENT'S PLAN? They don't appear to have one, which is a big part of the reason why people like Joe Klein can so easily implement theirs. Bold, courageous, unbought, unbossed, committed leadership is clearly a big part of what's missing in the Rochester City School District.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/change1…