Intrepidation

Your hair.

I bring it up since I was shopping for a flag for the new house, and this is what I find.

What country are you in? America Do you have a problem with people wearing the American flag? Yes? Well then you're free to go back to your country since you like it so much.

By George Kiriyama NBCBayArea.com updated 35 minutes ago On any other day at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, Daniel Galli and his four friends would not even be noticed for wearing T-shirts with the American flag. But Cinco de Mayo is not any typical day especially on a campus with a large Mexican American student population. Galli says he and his friends were sitting at a table during brunch break when the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove American flag bandannas that they wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office. "They said we could wear it on any other day," Daniel Galli said, "but today is sensitive to Mexican-Americans because it's supposed to be their holiday so we were not allowed to wear it today." Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here The boys said the administrators called their T-shirts "incendiary" that would lead to fights on campus. "They said if we tried to go back to class with our shirts not taken off, they said it was defiance and we would get suspended," Dominic Maciel, Galli's friend, said. The boys really had no choice, and went home to avoid suspension. They say they're angry they were not allowed to express their American pride. Their parents are just as upset, calling what happened to their children, "total nonsense." "I think it's absolutely ridiculous," Julie Fagerstrom, Maciel's mom, said. "All they were doing was displaying their patriotic nature. They're expressing their individuality." But to many Mexican-American students at Live Oak, this was a big deal. They say they were offended by the five boys and others for wearing American colors on a Mexican holiday. "I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day," Annicia Nunez, a Live Oak High student, said. "We don't deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn't do that on Fourth of July." As for an apology, the boys and their families say, 'fat chance.' "I'm not going to apologize. I did nothing wrong," Galli said. "I went along with my normal day. I might have worn an American flag, but I'm an American and I'm proud to be an American." The five boys and their families met with a Morgan Hill Unified School District official Wednesday night. The district and the school do not see eye-to-eye on the incident and released the following statement: The district does not concur with the Live Oak High School administration's interpretation of either board or district policy related to these actions. The boys will not be suspended and were allowed to return to school Thursday. We spotted one of them when he got to campus -- and, yes, he was sporting an American flag T-shirt. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36981179?GT1=43001

That's despicable, opening fire and killing pets in front of a child. The man who was arrested obviously wasn't a terrorist or serial killer, that overly excessive. Being in possession of drugs is one thing, and he certainly should have been arrested for it, but not like that. So we can waste resources on a man who isn't packing heat and killing pets, but can't send more than one officer out to patrol high drug trafficking areas where they SHOOT at the officers and helicopters.

I love long exposure photos like that. Looks awesome.

I have it a shot last night, it's a great way to waste hours of otherwise productive time with friends.

That sucks. =/

MDM, you need to resize your images to 800x600 as per the contest rules, just letting you know.

Forgot about this. Here's my entries. Sedan Coupe

The Folden: New Zealanders Create Half Holden HQ, Half Ford Mustang Mechanical Frankenstein Is it a Holden? Is it a Ford? Well, according to the folks from the New Zealand music radio station, 'The Rock', neither. They say it's a Folden and it was born from the unholy -or so to speak- union of a Holden HQ and a 1969 Ford Mustang. The culprits are The Rock's Drive show announcers, Robert Taylor and Jono Pryor, who claim that they created the Folden because they were "fed up with the ongoing battle between their listeners over who is mightier - Ford or Holden." Their goal was to fuse the rear 3/4s of a 1970's Holden HQ sedan with the front-end of a 1969 Ford Mustang with power being provided by 302 cubic inch V8 Ford engine. After 3 months and more than 800 man hours involving a couple of dozen of businesses, and not to mention a total cost ranging somewhere between NZD$85,000 to $95,000 (about US$62,000 to $69,500), the project was finally completed. Other treats include one-off Chip Foose 20-inch alloy wheels, a gun metal gray paint job with orange racing stripes, a custom interior fully rebuilt, high-end audio system, and last but certainly not least, a cool badge that puts the Mustang horse and Holden lion together. And what now? New Zealanders have the chance to bid for the Folden as the car is being auctioned on "Trademe" with proceeds to be donated to the NZ Mental Health Foundation for Out Of The Blue, an organization set up to help combat depression in men. At the time the article was written, the highest bid on the website was NZ$62,700 or close to US$45,800 at today's exchange rates. The auction will end on May 6, 2010. Links / Source: The Rock & Trademe

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100502/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_crisis By RAF CASERT and ELENA BECATOROS, Associated Press Writers Raf Casert And Elena Becatoros, Associated Press Writers – Sun May 2, 4:32 pm ET BRUSSELS – European governments and the International Monetary Fund on Sunday committed to pull Greece back from the brink of default, agreeing on euro110 billion in emergency loans on the condition Athens make painful budget cuts and tax increases. The rescue is aimed at keeping Greece from defaulting on its debts and preventing its financial crisis from infecting other indebted countries just as Europe is struggling out of recession. After chiding Athens for years of mismanagement and cheating on their budget reporting, the IMF and Greece's 15 partners that share the euro currency rewarded Prime Minister George Papandreou for tough measures including cuts in civil servant's pay. "I have done and will do everything so the country does not go bankrupt," Papandreou told a nation which now faces years of painful belt-tightening after years of overspending. France, Greece's most sympathetic partner, agreed there was no other choice. "It's a very harsh plan because there was a lot of laxity," Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said. But even Germany, long the fiercest critic of Greece's boundless spending, saw the need to back a euro-partner in such dire need — if only to keep the shared currency out of more trouble. The crisis is already threatening other eurozone countries with huge financial problems, including Portugal and Spain. "It is not an easy decision but there is no alternative," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said after the eurozone finance ministers approved the package in an emergency meeting in Brussels. Lagarde also insisted that "everyone has an interest in Greece being stable and trusted." The plan will still need approval by some countries' parliaments. But the eurogroup head, Luxembourg's Jean-Claude Juncker, said Greece will get the first funds by May 19, when Athens has euro8.5 billion worth of a 10-year bond maturing. Next Friday, the government leaders of the eurozone will convene in Brussels for an extraordinary summit to wrap up the rescue package and look at ways to avoid it in the future. The new Greek measures include cuts in civil servants' salaries and pensions, and tax increases, including for tobacco and alcohol, that aim to cut the deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2014 from 13.6 percent now. "We are called on today to make a basic choice. The choice is between collapse or salvation," George Papaconstantinou said before flying to Brussels. Violent protests already marked the Labor Day parades in Athens on Saturday and more demonstrations and a nationwide general strike is set for Wednesday. "These are the harshest, most unfair measures ever enacted. That is why our reaction will be decisive and dynamic. You can't always make the workers pay for the results of failed policies," Stathis Anestis, spokesman for Greece's largest umbrella union, GSEE, told The Associated Press. Yet with Papandreou's Socialists holding a large parliamentary majority, his austerity plan is unlikely to face obstacles before it is rushed through parliament by Friday. "Economic reality has forced us to take very harsh decisions," Papandreou said, adding that "This is the only way we will finance our euro300 billion debt." The IMF's lead negotiator in Athens, Poul Thomsen, praised Greece's "draconian reforms" that he said could help "shock and awe markets and re-establish confidence." Greece was in essence locked out of the normal source for government borrowing, the bond market. Investors were demanding high interest rates the government said it could not pay. As confidence returns, it is hoped those rates will come down. Still, some economists think Greece, though saved for the moment, will eventually have difficulty paying down its debt load because it has poor prospects for economic growth. Of the euro110 billion in total commitments endorsed Sunday, the eurozone will contribute euro80 billion to the package, with euro30 billion of that to be made available this year. The rest of the money would come from the Washington, DC-based IMF. EU Monetary Affairs Commissioner Ollie Rehn said the loans from other eurozone countries to Greece would carry an interest rate of "around 5 percent." Because the interest rate is higher than the one those countries face themselves on the market, they could make money out of the rescue package. But the rate is significantly lower than Greece would face if it tried to borrow on the international market, where it has seen its borrowing costs spiral because of investor fears it would default. "It is a day in which we have the commitment of the Greek government to do whatever it takes to bring the economy back to a sustainable path, and the commitment of the eurozone members to do whatever it takes to safeguard the stability of the eurozone," said Papaconstantinou. ____ Associated Press writers Derek Gatopoulos and Demetris Nellas in Athens, Verena Schmitt-Roschmann in Bonn and Greg Keller in Brussels contributed to this report.

Or two days ago.

I hate humidity. Combine that with it being around 90 today (and yesterday) makes it very uncomfortable. I prefer low humidity with temps in the low 70's.

Well it doesn't help that most of the food we (especially children) eat that's sold today is very unhealthy.

Well said.

Crazy.

Wow, that's like something out of a war. Time to call in some AH-64 Apaches?

Yesterday I saw not one but four Porsches. an red older 911 a black Cayman a silver Boxter an orange 911 GT2 Today I saw a Dodge Dakota convertible

Have you read, seen, or heard the kind of crap that's coming out of the Far-Right lately? It's ridiculous, asinine, and some of the stuff they say is downright scary, especially since most of the GOP these days seems to be Far-Right.

Fixed.

I've got a few of my grandfather's items from WWII where he served on Iwo Jima, including his helmet, a tank periscope, a military flashlight, a 30mm magazine, and a ammunition box. I've also got a diary from one of my ancestors from the revolutionary area that gives the name of the person who fired "the shot heard round the world" (the first shot fired at the Battle of Lexington).

Accurate based on what?

A friend of mine who him and his family came over here from Vietnam when he was little. They came here legally (and are now citizens) and had to start with especially nothing, but worked their way to become middle class. He told me yesterday that supports this bill regarding illegal immigration. Thought I'd share that perspective.