-You are right, Mr Sarkozy. They are ugly. Shall I begin the ethnic cleansing operation now?

-No, France is not quite ready just yet. Let's just deport them.

 If this were happening anywhere else in the world, with any other ethic group (well, almost any other ethnic group) western Europe would surely snub its nose. But this week, in France, hundreds upon hundreds of Roma immigrants, (known, in English, as Gypsies) were expelled from France. The Government of Nicolas Sarkozy says they were in the country illegally, arguing that by EU law they can be evicted if they are there more than three months and have no job and create a burden or are there less than three months and represent a "threat to public safety".

The pope, French churches, a UN committee and even several ministers in Mr Sarkozy’s own government have voiced opposition to no avail. France is dealing with them much as some small towns deal with the homeless, only instead of buying them a bus ticket, he sends them off to wherever they came from (presumably eastern Europe) with three hundred euros and claims that many are leaving of their own free will, by which he means that they are leaving of their own free will now to avoid leaving by force later.

Dear Mayor Michael Bloomberg,

You didn't have to speak out in defense of the mosque, but you did. Not only was this the right message for non-Muslims to hear, that we must extend the same freedoms to others that we wish to have extended to ourselves, but it is also the right message to send to the Muslim world: that we are not as intolerant and hateful as we seem.

There are extremists out there who call themselves Muslim that want us to be hateful and spiteful towards Muslims. Who want you to reject the Mosque. By painting the US as intolerant of Islam they are able to gain new recruits willing to commit acts of suicidal terror. But when you defended the Mosque, you sent a clear message of tolerance and openness. You made it that much harder for terrorists to recruit and for the hate to multiply. By defending the Mosque, you defended our country against terrorism.

It takes bravery to break this cycle of hate. Thank you for being brave.

bjorn

Correction: it seems that the "Mosque" is actually a community center. There is a small Mosque about four blocks from ground zero that's been there for years that has no association with the current controversy.

Friends don't let friends fly naked.
(Unless they are trying to make a buck)

 There's been a lot of controversy over the new "full body scanners" going in at airports across the country because they reveal a ghostly image of your naked body to the someone, in a different room. Even the american association for nude recreation has had their say. Not too long ago, a fight broke out between security officials because one walked through the scanner and the other saw enough to make fun of him. Whether they even work is another question, but clearly, these images are pretty revealing, no? How revealing? And do we need to protect ourselves from having these images seen or posted on the internet?

 Well, of course, there's a facebook group for everything. May they have the answer? Their mantra, in all caps, is this: "SCRAP THE CHILD PORN LAW VIOLATING, HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSING, CANCER-CAUSING, ELECTRONIC STRIP SEARCH AIRPORT SCANNERS!" Interestingly, those under 18 aren't allowed through these scanners in the UK, so they may have a point there. I haven't seen any evidence that the radiation exposure is worse than existing scanners (which also use x-rays) but you are allowed to request a pat-down. But it's really the super freaky image they use that group scares me, so I won't be looking there for answers...

 Of course, whatever side you are on, there is always an an intrepid entrepreneur with the answer. In this case the answer is in the form of pasties! Flying pasties! Pieces of Rubber you stick in your clothes to protect your "dignity"!

 The good news: They've successfully capped the oil spill. The bad news: they are only capturing, at best, 8.3% of the oil. Alright! Now here's some other fun facts you may not know about BP:

• The stock market may think BP's lost 29% of it's value, but BP has only spent about a billion dollars on gulf relief efforts so far. That's... not big money. In fact, they are prepared to pay 20 times that in spill related losses and still pay out the same dividends they did last year. My take: BP is now undervalued. I rate it a buy!
• Environmental impact study of a spill on this site was not performed because it was deemed unlikely.
• Amid this crisis, Obama is having trouble getting congress to drop special tax breaks for big oil.
• BP has had an unusually bad history of safety, recently. Really, worst in the industry. You really get the feeling that this is a company that treats safety risks as part of the cost of doing business.
• On paper Big Oil pays roughly 40-50% of their income in taxes, but they manage to shelter most of it offshore perfectly legally.
• The tragedy is not that the government was so desperate that the felt they needed to ask for James Cameron's help, but that BP turned him down! Can you believe it? I mean, he's a hollywood guy with his own fleet of deep-sea diving gizmotrons! Poor guy, will no one let him be the hero? He just want to be a hero like in his movies!
• You think this hurts the US? 1/6 of all corporate dividends come from BP in the UK.

But don't carry it twice.

 Isn't it convenient when you find one shred of evidence -- however small -- to support your beliefs? It's even better when you can distort it using questionable or downright bad math so that it seems more supportive than it is. That's what Rich Karlgaard just did in his recent blog entry, The Millionaire Cop Next Door, where he argues that government workers, like cops, firefighters, teachers (yes, teachers) and other hardworking Americans are the fastest growing class of millionaires, simply because they work for the government. No that's not a misprint, he's calling them millionaires. Not long ago, these folks were the heroes of the right. These were the hardworking Americans -- the "real" Americans -- who helped keep the fabric of our country together. Remember their heroic efforts on 9/11? I guess not.

It's hard to pick a favorite part out of this...

 So apparently, lots of guys are signing off text messages to each other with "x". As in "kisses". And when I say lots, I mean almost a quarter. While I think it's nice that guys aren't afraid of a little SMS (short message snogging) with each other, it might make some of their wives jealous if they found out that their guy friends are getting more textual love than they are. Still, it makes me wonder: if fully 75% of 18-24 year old men are "Metrotextuals" and 48% saying that the kiss is commonplace among their friends, what kind of messages are they sending to each other? (Also, did T-Mobile get our permission to do this research?)

I've always known, deep in my heart, that women would be the death of me. Truth be told though, I always thought it would be one, solitary gun wielding femme fatale who simply had an taste for danger. Now I know the truth: all attractive women are dangerous. All of them. My misconception was due to art, while the truth comes by science. Thank God for science, which, truly, is unbiased, honest always has our best interests at heart. Take it from these wise researchers: Don't spend any time with attractive women: especially not alone. They are like black widows sucking at your souls!

- Oh, my little girl is coming on next.
- Seriously? How old is she?
- Seven.
- Seven! And she's in this?! Dang! That's amazing!
- Yea, we're so proud of her... OMG here she comes. I'm shaking... Wait what's that she's wearing... holy shit is that a... Who dressed my daughter up like a stripper? What the hell is going on?
- Ooo. She's a good dancer though.
- Uh, thanks.
- Better watch out when she hits puberty.
- Uh....
- Man... better watch out, like right now.
- ...
- uh, huh.

      I pick up good stories where most people do -- from their hairdressers. My latest story is no exception. My sweet-as-sugar hair stylist at Panyc Salon (blatant plug alert!) recently told me the true story of a quirky elderly couple; we'll call them "Frank" and "Mary" because those are good 'quirky, elderly couple' names. So Frank and Mary were an elderly couple who were married for the better part of 50 years. They had their ups and downs as most married couples do, but on the whole had a happy partnership based on mutual love, commitment, and respect.

Fig A. If you thought Michelle "Bombshell" McGee looked "trashy", Let me introduce you to Mr James' Ex-Wife, Janine Lindemulder. (Occupation? You guessed it: Porn Star)

 Oh, we all feel for you, Sandra. Your husband, Jesse James, married twice before (once to a tattoo-covered porn star, Fig A), cheated on you with a girl who, like him and unlike you, was covered in tattoos. Yup. No one could have seen that coming. I mean, here's a guy who's built a reputation on being Mr I-will-build-you-a-custom car/motorcycle/whatever (with 10 times the legal exhaust (!), no less), covered in tattoos, and here you are, little miss Bullock. Sure, we saw you in Miss Congeniality. You're tough. You like to act mean. But look, dating football players in high school won't cut it. Your momma was an opera singer and your daddy was a voice coach. A voice coach. You cannot compete in this territory.

 Michelle "Bombshell" McGee was the "trashy" girl's name. She's the one who did this to you. Let's see what the media has to say:

       The comparisons were inevitable. One is a sexually provocative, envelope-pushing, hit-churning, fashion-risk-taking, controversy-thriving, gay pop icon. And the other is....well, the same thing. While Gaga is clearly much newer to the fame game and has yet to demonstrate the enormous staying power of Queen Madge, they have both developed their own unique brands of cultural hysteria and fiercely loyal fanbases. Allow Chicktellectual to break it down for you.

When it comes to looking good in grad school, look no further than academichic, an awesome blog written by "Three feminist PhD candidates at a Midwest university, on a crusade against the ill-fitting polyester suit of academic yore." Yore? How about today? Man have you seen the way a typical PhD dresses? Like crap, that's how. But I digress, these PhDc's not only have a fab website (arranged with categories like "Funding" for ads, "Bibliography" instead of blog roll, etc), but they show off some truly adorable outfits on (mostly) grad-school budgets. And would we put them here if they didn't look smart and cute? Of course, with complete academic rigor, they show you how they put the outfit together and include well-photographed close-ups when necessary. This is no amateur fashion blog.

Is there feminist talk? Hells yea. As advertised. (although it is mostly in the comments).