Saturday notes 6/24/06

Title IX twist – The ACLU is taking up the cause of boys who want to be cheerleaders, or specifically, those who are good enough to make the finals in competitive cheerleading. The rules in place prevent boys from participating in girls’ sports play-offs, but those rules are probably only legally valid where the physical differences between the sexes would give one sex a particular advantage. One could argue that Title IX would allow for a rule to prevent girls from participating in a boy’s cheerleading finals if such a competition existed.

Incidently, since the inception of the Title IX, female participation in high school and college sports was up something like 900 percent as of about 2000 if Josh Lymon of West Wing was telling the truth.

Update: I have been informed that the statement may have been made by Sam Seaborn. Shame on me for not checking my sources! Damn!!

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Nice letter to the ER from Trevor Harper of Mid-City Motor World defending the consumption of hybrid vehicles against a Glenn Simmons editorial which essentially implied that it is pointless to do anything if you can only do a little. The editorial reminds me of the incessant right wing commentary after every Earth Day celebration noting the “irony” of the litter that has to be cleaned up afterward.

I suppose we could be accused of hypocrisy for breathing. After all, by doing so we release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

Update: As Heraldo noted, the Time-Standard “toasted” a mild jab at Simmons in yesterday’s paper. And Heather Muller of ER provided a good natured jab as well, along with some nice prose about the diversity of opinion at ER. She personally broke at least one major story that ended up hurting Worth Dikeman’s campaign. Maybe just maybe Arkley is more interested in making money than monopolizing the local media with a right wing slant. But Heather’s welcome to take my picture anytime, though my kids are much more photogenic.

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I suspect that the meth dealers consist of people too lazy and impatient to grow marijuana. Either that, or the marijuana industry is languishing in a post-prop 215 world. In any case, it doesn’t seem to be attracting the brainiest folk. A few days ago, local drug cops benefitted from a de facto bug zapper phenomenon.

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Zogby says the governor’s race is a dead heat.

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Mayor Gavin Newsom may make San Francisco the first American city to offer universal healthcare. It’s not quite socialized medicine, nor even single payer. But for a city of under a million to even attempt such a feet is memorable in and of itself – worthy of a lot more media attention than it’s getting. Newsom has managed to pull some of the heavyweight chamber types into the discussion, which bodes well for its future. With downtown backing, it may very well come out successful.

Would my favorite mayoral candidate Matt Gonzales have pulled this off? I don’t know.

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It looks like the founder of my favorite national blog is an astrologist, and possibly a con man. Disappointing. Fortunately, Chris Bowers is in charge at the moment.

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And from that very blog, a discussion about a study that suggests that young people who watch the Daily Show may tend towards cynicism that actually deters them from voting.

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My car’s exterior thermometer registered 108 degrees just east of Briceland at about 3:00 today. It went down to 102 by the time we reached Whitmore Grove, then back up to 104 by the time I pulled into my driveway in Redway. I have no idea how accurate my car thermometer is, but tomorrow we’re heading up to Eureka – any excuse we can come up with.