Hard to believe it is April, the middle of April, and we are still talking about snowstorms! Windchills are low here in PA and Sunday, we are expecting a Nor'eastern. My town will probably only get extremely heavy rains, but some places could get some serious snow.
I commute 80 miles each way to work and Thursday's commute was extremely rough. Heavy rain made it very hard to see. At one point, I was driving under a bridge and so much water was pouring off the bridge, I could not see anything for about 5 seconds. Was driving next to a tractor trailer so it was a little nerve-wracking for my passengers. I'm in a carpool so we share the driving.
I cut the grass last weekend and this weekend, I wanted to work on my flowerbeds. Don't think that will be happening!
Some concerts to look forward to in July - Ian McLagan will be playing in NYC at BB Kings on July 6. If you haven't seen Ian and the Bump Band, you have to go! And, then July 7, the LiveEarth concert will be held in NJ. I've already told ColleenM to expect a houseguest that weekend!
Are you totally sick of the Imus story yet? I think what he said was horrible, but I don't think he should have been fired over it. I really don't care for Sharpton and find it very hypocritical that he would call for anyone's firing based on a negative slur when he has repeatedly slandered numerous people and never apologised for his words. On the news today, the minister for the team's coach compared the Rutgers basketball team to the Duke lacrosse players saying that the basketball team had been victims and were judged negatively while the lacrosse players also victims were held up as noble and honorable. How can you compare a group of talented, intelligent and gifted young women who were referenced in a passing comment (sexist and racist, as it definitely was) by a shock jock to innocent people who were convicted in the press, spent thousands of dollars in legal fees, had to leave school for a year, and had their faces and names splashed over every local and national news station for months? If those Duke students had not been able to afford the best legal defense, they would most likely have been convicted. I'm convinced that there are many innocent people in our jails.
Hopefully this weekend will be last touch of winter! I'm ready for Spring.
3 comments:
These are very complex issues but do raise all sorts of questions. It was an injustice what happened to the Lacrosse team, but you do highlight an important concern. There are many cases each year where this type of miscarriage of justice or similar misconduct by prosecution happens. The fact that the elite have money and the right connections for a highly publicised, tremendously expensive legal challenge with the best defense strategists definetly had its advantages. I am in no way challenging their vindication, but should a regular defendant, equally innocent, without access to this type of defense, suffer beacuse they can't "afford" Justice?
Interesting points however Imus stepped in the bucket on this one. We all know Al & The Sharp Tunes will jump on any band wagon to get his face on the front page but my biggest question about this guy is why we seemed to have forgotten the Twana Brawley case. This guy is nothing but an air bag and a capitalist when it comes to his self promotion. And talk about somebody who plays the race card?
As for the I-Man getting thrown under the bus...Oh well. he's a big boy and should know better. I was on the radio in this town for 4 years and I can assure you that when I felt myself getting close to that line I would be very mindful of it.
Although I am not one to be politically correct, in fact I can be downright nasty at times, with my politics I do call it the way I see it and when advertisers start yanking their ads and costing the corporation money the corporation is going to react to save it's own ass. It's about bottom line. Not twenty people standing in fornt of the building holding up signs.
But I will bet you a dollar that Imus resurfaces in a few months. And I find the attack on the rap and hip-hop industries, and their reactions to it very interesting. Black guys making millions throwin' that talk around and then screaming when somebody else does it?
Interesting....
Paul - I think there are many innocent people in our jails. Barry Scheck (sp?) and his DNA project have proved that. That's one of the reasons I don't support the death penalty. As I often say, we don't have a justice system, we have a legal system. And, like many of our systems, it's very imperfect.
Bryan - I have no doubt Imus will survive this. But I question why all the others who have said, and continue to say, more hateful things with impunity: like Sharpton, like Ann Coulter, etc. The media has a lot to do with shaping people's perceptions and mindsets. The 24-hour news channels have really changed the American culture. I've heard the black activists that have been anti-rap say in an interview the other day that they have been protesting the language in rap and hip-hop music for quite some time now, but no one ever covers their protests on the news. The Imus story hasn't left the airwaves for more than 5 minutes for days. When Nelly wanted to come to a college to do a blood drive for his sister, the campus refused to hold the drive unless he would speak to a female coalition about the derogatory language in his songs. He refused to participate so the blood drive was never held. That never made it on the nightly news.
Cathy
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