Sure, Why Not?

First, have a look at this news story.

It was early last month when Jane Hambleton of Fort Dodge found the bottle under the front seat of her 19-year-old son’s pride and joy.

Her next move was a call to The Des Moines Register’s classified advertising department:

OLDS 1999 Intrigue

“Totally uncool parents who obviously don’t love teenage son, selling his car. Only driven for 3 weeks before snoopy mom who needs to get a life found booze under front seat. $3,700/offer. Call meanest mom on the planet.”

The son soon found himself on foot. And the meanest mom on the planet became the target of accolades from across Iowa and beyond.

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Ugh. This news story just got posted on NYRA.

Source

Canadian Muslim Teen’s Dad Charged in Her Murder; Friends Say They Clashed Over Head Scarf

TORONTO — A Canadian man has been charged with murdering his own daughter, and her friends say the two clashed over her refusal to wear a Muslim head scarf. Police have not commented on a motive.

Aqsa Parvez, 16, of Mississauga, Ontario, was rushed to hospital in critical condition Monday after a man made an emergency call in which he claimed to have killed his daughter, police said. She died late Monday night.

The emergency call “came in from the father saying he had killed his daughter,” police spokesman Wayne Patterson said. “Police arrived and rushed her to hospital and she passed away.”

Patterson said they are working at determining the motive and refused to confirm it was over the head scarf.

The girl’s friends said in interviews Tuesday that Aqsa loved shopping for clothes and clashed with her family over her reluctance to wear the hijab, a traditional veil or head scarf for devout Muslim women.

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We awoke yesterday morning to learn that one of our beloved Washington Redskins had died. Rest in peace, Sean Taylor.

But under the Washington Post pages about the fallen #21 of our hallowed NFL team, news which has shaken the DC area quite a bit (seriously, those of you who don’t live around here wouldn’t understand, the Redskins are serious business!), is a profile article in the Style section meant to give hope to us all, especially our young friends.

It’s called Age Is Just a Number: Youth Rights Advocate Tries to Break Down Barriers to Adulthood. And it is featuring our very own NYRA and our very own Alex Koroknay-Palicz!

Click that link and read it. Then come back here for more comments. I’ll wait.
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Did you hear he got in trouble for DUI and probation violation and all that crap?

Oh, this is sweet.

I hate that guy.

A few years ago, I saw him on Letterman, and he was discussing his 16-year-old stepdaughter and how she was learning to drive. His comment? “Sixteen-year-olds just should not be driving. Not just her. All of them.”

To which he received rounding applause.

Sure, he can pretend to be some kind of voice of reason for driving when talking about 16-year-olds and acting like they’re all incompetent just because of their age, but where is all this when it comes to his own driving habits? He thinks a 16-year-old should not drive because she is too dumb to think correctly about it just because of her age, yet he’s the idiot who drives while drunk?!

So nice to see this really. He makes a stupid ageist comment on late night TV, only for his actions to prove he’s a hypocritical moron.

Basically, Kiefer, you’re a dick. You’ve got no place pointing any fingers at those younger than you while getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol. I hope they throw the book at you and ruin your career over it.

This article is a little old now, but still worth discussing.

Muvico Makes Adults Only Theater

Can you believe that? For those who didn’t feel like reading it, or were suffering too much from a rapidly melting brain which tends to happen when exposed to such high levels of astounding idiocy, basically the Muvico movie theater company is planning to set aside one screen in their facilities for just people 21 and over.
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Apparently a bunch of Russians are all pissed off at Estonia because they moved an important statue or something. The statue was some kind of pro-Soviet symbol in Tallinn, Estonia, that all the Russians living there liked it because it was like a sign of victory for them. Estonians didn’t really care for that, since to them, anything pro-Soviet was supporting the days when they were still part of the whole USSR.

But they didn’t destroy the statue. They merely moved it to another spot.

Doesn’t matter. Russians are still all furious at them and protesting and boycotting and cutting off trade and whatnot. Looks like it could be a nasty European Union issue.

Those Russians, though. Seriously. I mean, I could see if the Estonians destroyed the memorial or something like that. No, the memorial is FINE. It’s merely in a different spot. What the hell is Russia’s problem? Goddamn, doesn’t matter where you are in the world, you’ll still find people getting pissy over stupid shit, and in great numbers.

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Okay, yes, I’ve been reading The Economist and greatly enjoying it. So sue me.

My good NYRA friend Keith Mandell showed me this earlier.

Austrians Split at Voting at Age 16 Plan

VIENNA, Austria — Austria’s new coalition government says 16-year-olds _ who can already vote in some local races _ should also be allowed to cast ballots in national elections.

But the country is split on lowering the voting age from 18. Some think 16-year-olds are not sufficiently interested or mature enough to have a say in national affairs but others welcome the change.

“Adolescents aren’t any less interested in politics than other groups,” said Reinhard Zuba of the Austrian Institute for Youth Research, citing recent studies on the topic.

One such study, carried out with the Vienna-based SORA Institute after local elections in Vienna in October 2005, showed 59 percent of 16- to 18-year-olds cast a ballot.

That turnout was about the same as other age groups, said SORA co-director Christoph Hofinger, adding that lowering the voting age to 16 _ or even 14 _ could help counterbalance the views of an increasingly aging population, a common phenomenon across Europe.

In Europe, and around the world, the voting age is commonly 18 _ with some exceptions. In Iran, 15-year-olds can vote and in Cuba, Nicaragua and the Isle of Man, off the coast of Britain, 16-year-olds can cast ballots. On the other end of the spectrum, the age in Italy for voting for the Senate is 25.

The proposal to lower the age comes from Austria’s “grand coalition” of Social Democrats and the conservative People’s Party following elections on Oct. 1. But it was not a major campaign issue.

“I’d vote if I could because I get a bit worked up about what politicians do without asking us,” said 15-year-old Katharina Wurian.

Maria Finz-Lucchi, a history teacher in Vienna, said she too supports the proposal.

“It would teach young people to take responsibility,” she said.

But Willi Geser, assistant professor of psychology at the University of Innsbruck, is skeptical.

“If one decreases the voting age, then one has to do more to promote political education in the schools,” he said.

Oh, awesome! More and more people are seeing the light. A lower voting age is a GOOD thing!

And I just can’t stop thinking of The Sound of Music right now.

NYRA’s Jeff Odgis posted this on the forums today. It’s short, so I’ll repost it here.

Four-Year-Old Scares Off Armed Robbers

On Friday night a man forced his way into the home of Jennifer Long’s apartment in north Durham while a second man held a gun on her boyfriend outside. The robber forced Jennifer, another woman, and several children to lie on the floor.

Stevie, a four-year-old boy, slipped out of the room and changed into his Power Ranger costume. He re-entered the room waving a plastic sword and screaming, “Get away from my family!” The thief then fled with only some items from Jennifer’s purse.

Heather Evans, Stevie’s aunt quoted a counselor as saying that Stevie’s distinction between fantasy and reality needed to be improved. According the aunt Stevie believed he morphed into a Power Ranger. His little sister has experienced nightmares.

Stevie kicks ass. I mean, when we were little, wasn’t that our dream? That we could do more than just pretend to be heroes. This kid actually was one!

And, of course, the “well-meaning” adults can’t just be happy with this. No. There it was right there in that last paragraph.

“Oh, noes! Stevie can’t distinguish fantasy from reality!”

You idiot, he just saved your asses!
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Dude! The Gazette published my letter! It’s not in the print edition, but it’s on their site.

Clicky!

I don’t do drugs. Let me just mention that right off the bat. I don’t need to do drugs. I’m quite loopy on my own under the influence of, well, nothing. However, I’m not about to condemn people who do. Well, the harmless ones like marijuana anyway. People who shoot up heroin and snort cocaine or whatever are just plain retarded.
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Hamas won?! Are you fucking serious?

Look at this shit! (Washington Post. Free registration required.)

There I was at work yesterday, and in the lab they’ve got NPR on all day, which sucks because I was basically hearing the same three news stories over and over and over. What did I hear? Exit polls say Fatah will win over Hamas. Good. Hamas is a bunch of suicide bomb happy morons.
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Here. Read this. It’s an LA Times article.

(And when/if that link goes bad, I’ve mirrored it here.)

Should I bother saying that Mike Males kicks all kinds of ass, or is that a given?

I’d so love to get a hold of one of his or other pro-youth books out there. I could use the youth rights ammo! I could use the caulk to patch holes in my arguments.

But, well, getting back to the matter at hand, let’s have a look at the aforementioned article.
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