DISQUS

Hilarious That whole scarf thing is a fad. Should we ban it along with sagging pants?

white family Notice the nice white family silhouetted in the drawing. That's who he's gonna be protecting from the "enemies". Hah.

Enemies The only person named was Hugo Chavez. Other than that are supposed to assume that the Arabic guys are enemies, just because? WOW. That's disgusting. Thanks, Eartha.

? How should someone respond to a comment like that? I didn't know what to say, because I felt like whatever I said he was still going to be an idiot. He went on the say that he would enjoy it if all the gay people in the bar would get together and do a "stupid dance."  Are people just than ignorant?? I guess so.

Blaming the victim This is all too common in writing. Good you pointed this out.
  I think too many people have the idea that being gay in public is some sort of crime. I was at a bar a couple weeks ago and this guy comes up to me and says, "What's up, is this gay night or something?" because there was one openly gay couple sitting at the bar. And he went on the say  "If any gay here grabs my ass I'll punch 'em out." I don't know if that was some sort of warped pick-up line but it just shows the mentality of some people.

Scare tactics Yeah talking about evil and graphic details of blowing up women and beheading paints this savage picture of Iranian's. He was talking about the islamic extremists but he really didn't work to hard at making the distinction between crazy "evil" extremists and regular citizens.

Men in charge That seems ridiculously unfair. Wow. It's a man's world, eh?

Nose sore, too On hot summer nights like these the air is thick with the odor of burning rotted garbage and plastic.  I can't even describe it in words. It makes it almost intolerable to breathe.

Black women and hair There's so much weirdness surrounding black women and hair. Most black women feel they need to press it out and make it look as straight as possible in order to be feminine. In fact, I get approached by many black women who say "Why don't you do something with your hair? Or, why don't you "Press it out?" I wear my hair naturally curly and it's a concept that for some reason is controversial. What IF Michelle Obama decided to skip a perm and had a fro? I bet people would be gawking at that, too. Black women have been socialized to think that their hair is not good the way it is.  Most of them get chemically alter the heck out of it until it has a hard time growing, it's kind of odd. Anyway, the hair thing is I'm sure, a topic that goes way back for black girls and women.

Good news I feel so under informed. I had NO IDEA there was such a ban! wow.

Interesting: Ah, the irony.

Access to food Many parents without cars or without the money here in Detroit have a hard time getting fresh food. There are very few grocery stores in Detroit, and many are forced to shop and gas stations and liquor stores for food. Fresh fruit and veggies at the liquor store/gas station? I don't think so.

Women as victims Funny that all the pharmaceutical ads I see for vaccines and testing for HPV have been geared 100% for women. So much so that I had no idea men would even be affected by it!

Michigan for sale It seems like any city, state or country in an economic pinch is more willing to sell off precious natural resources to stay afloat like a bankrupt person might pawn off family heirlooms.

Detroit, for example, is hustling off the tunnel to Canada and small parks private developers for some quick cash.

Is water gonna get hustled too? I hope not.

big Money As cruel as it sounds, for people after big money, war is big business.

To clarify: Thanks, Ben, for your helpful comment. The figures I used were from person in my neighborhood who was trying to explain the public school problem. I will be sure to correct them.

However, I think the main problem is transport, and moving the kids around to the different schools. What was once a walkable trip now is a drive, and many people don't have cars. Also, no free school bus services this particular neighborhood.

  Granted, of course there are still plenty of elementary schools in Detroit:

(http://www.schooldig...).

  It's just a matter of accessibility and quality of the education. Of the five+ kids on my block, all of them attend charter schools or are home-schooled.

One mom on my street said she didn't know where Campbell academy was. There are so many  charter schools available, the public city operated ones are buried and the education qulaity there, I imagine, is not stellar. The schools that most kids go to in the area:  Detroit Merit Charter Academy, Chrysler Academy, Detroit Academy for Arts and Sciences ... all charter schools.

I truly appreciate your comment. I even called Campbell elementary to see what services they provide to neighborhoods that used Ferry elementary. A teacher answered and said there was no secretary or principal there today, and that I should "call back tomorrow" and hung up. I suppose I will call back tomorrow.

It's a smelly affair I live a few blocks away from the incinerator and on a hot afternoon there's an inescapable smell of rotting burning flesh ... it's sick.

The Detroit incinerator is the largest trash incinerator in the world, according to Ecocenter.org.

  If they get 800,000 tons of trash per year at a cost of over $170 per ton to Detroit residents in taxes, that means the company that owns the incinerator makes $136 million a year, much of which is from the cit of Detroit (Up to seven times the cost of recycle and landfill services).

Other fun facts from ecocenter.org:

-Asthma hospitalization rates in Detroit are 3-4 times the average rate of the state of Michigan. In addition to these staggering figures

- Detroit is the only city of the 30 largest cities in the United States without any form of curbside recycling.

Oh yeah, and the city's decision not to buy the incinerator, well, it's got a lot to do with money, not the environment, necessarily. As Mayor Kilpatrick said in a statement:

"We will not exercise the option to purcahse the waste energy facility," Kilpatrick said in a prepared statement. "The proposed purchase price was beyond what the city was prepared to pay."

Incredible Great story, Eartha. The point that if drugs cost more there will be less crime is absurd. More crime is, in fact, what will ensue. People hooked on these drugs aren't gonna say, "Oh, I guess I can't afford cocaine anymore..." This whole thing is ridiculous.

Where's the Money? I agree, Todd. I was a little confused about how they figured cutting all those jobs would add up to 500 million ... maybe school closings and pay cuts? Who knows.

HIV awareness There are so many -- too many -- people that think "well it can't happen to me" and continue to make poor decisions that put them at risk without getting tested. I actually met someone who thought that only gay people could spread HIV. I just feel that the fact that these thoughts even exist in a society that is supposedly "educated" is inexcusable and detrimental because ignorance is why HIV is still spreading as rapidly as it is.

It's good that the senators came out and took the test, it's one step in the right direction in getting people informed and tested.

Army for $ As Rayne said, so many young men in poverty ridden or just low-income families turn to the military because they think it's the only way out. Recruiters swarm low income areas for just that reason. So if William and Alex have $$$ then they may have more choices if there's no draft.

$11 Oops. turns out $11 will only get you one way on Amtrak.

Public Transport After doing some research on public transport, it turns out that improving buses in Detroit and other MI cities is quite feasible, and it's not totally a financial issue. More to come on that.

  Also, it only costs $11 to get from Ann Arbor to Detroit and back if you take the train.

Less Media For some reason there was less media at this event than at the other MI events and it was one of the bigger rallies.  The risers for TV cameras were full, but the chairs for print, radio and internet media were for the most part empty. I wonder why that is?

  At Monday's event it was a lot easier for media to interact with the audience. I don't think they even cared if you went up into the stands. I did a couple times for pics.

Also, this whole article is he said she said. It blew up and now everyone's following it, but ... I don't know. There's no way to prove anything, because no volunteer is really going to 'fess up and say, yeah I did that against the will of the campaign, and the campaign would never admit to anything even if they did single those women out.  So... go figure.

Consumer confidence, rabies All this bad news can't be good for investors.
  Also, my mom works at a dog grooming place and they don't deal with dogs that don't have rabies  shots. She said people would be shocked if they know how many dogs they have to turn away because they are not  vaccinated.