There's Just Something About That Wheat in Uganda

Ug99 Stem Rust is spreading fast. Scientists and Researchers need to continue to pool together to stave off this latest strain of wheat-killer, which could devastate world food supplies. In the meantime... GO WITH SPELT.

Ug99 may take several years to reach North America, but it is inevitable. (Image courtesy HULIQ.com)



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Someone should just shut MSNBCtv down - your whole network is offensive

Dear MSNBCtv:

From Keith Olbermann's show, to your "Worst Person In The World"
feature, to Hardball, I'm thinking, you can't really get much more
offensive than that... so if you're going to fire IMUS, why not just
shut the whole network down? You've done enough damage for one decade I think.

One thing will be true after Imus is gone - MSNBCtv will now officially
have no sense of humor at all. Not that Imus was very funny either,
but at least he was in POSSESSION of a sense of humor. At least he
could smell humor when it existed within 60 feet of his nose, unlike
your other hosts.

I've got an idea for you! How about a "Worst Network In The World"
spot and you can just feature MSNBCtv there everyday?!

I feel sorry for Tucker. How did he get stuck on your network? He may
be the one exception to your humorless rule, although as your lone
conservative, isn't he mainly there to act as punching bag?

Anyway - I'll just mention that Keith Olbermann is perhaps the only
news show host that actually makes me want to vomit each time he opens his mouth. I'm usually fortunate enough to miss his show, and I fortunately am not even sure what channel MSNBCtv is on (is it 312, or 272?) but on those occasions when I do catch a show I'm reminded why I watch FOX.

Sincerely,

BLRBS.com

Crossing Street Musician Off Of My Career List

What would happen if you placed one of the world's most acclaimed violinists (Joshua Bell) playing on an exquisite antique violin, in a busy D.C. subway station at rush hour, posing as a street musician? Not much! Click this link to see video.

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Hear the full audio file of his entire incognito performance at the D.C. Metro station.

The final haul for his 43 minutes of playing? $32.17. Yes, some people gave pennies. Not terrible, although just a few days before he had played to a packed Symphony Hall in Boston where people paid $100 per seat.

Thanks to the Washington Post's Gene Weingarten for this fun story.

A Lot To Be Sorry For

What with all the apologizing going on for verbal slips, Larry Elder lists a few other apologies we'll probably never hear, such as:

Dear Anti-Defamation League and White Community,

Please accept my apologies for calling whites "interlopers" and referring to Jews as "diamond merchants," and, during a conflict between Jews and blacks, saying, "If the Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house." They were mistakes of the head, not the heart.
Rev. Al Sharpton, civil rights activist and former host of "Saturday Night Live"


Dear Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice and other minority members of the Bush administration,
Please accept my apology for, while co-hosting a radio show in 2001, calling Bush's minority appointees "Uncle Tom types." I made a mistake of the head, not of the heart.
Sincerely yours, Gloria Allred, attorney at law, currently representing the black "victims" of Michael Richards' racist rant

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Striking The Word Nappy From Middle English

From Stevie Wonder's "I Wish"

Looking back on when I
Was a little nappy headed boy
Then my only worry
Was for Christmas what would be my toy
Even though we sometimes
Would not get a thing
We were happy with the
Joy the day would bring

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The album Songs In The Key Of Life is one of the greatest in the history of American music. One of those tunes, "I Wish" starts off with the lyrics posted above - and as far as I knew as a "white guy" from Iowa, it was perfectly OK to use the term nappy headed. It was ok for Stevie. Now come to find out thanks to Imus, I'm not allowed to say nappy headed. That's racial according to the Reverend Al. That's ridiculous according to Reverend Merriam. What now... can Al presume to remove words from the dictionary? Nappy derives from nap: Etymology: Middle English noppe, from Middle Dutch, flock of wool, nap - a hairy or downy surface (as on a fabric). Nappy is a perfectly decent descriptive adjective.

As for the rest of Don Imus' little quip (and it was very brief), he was trying to make a joke at the expense of others. That's what comedians do (and Imus is not a very good one). You just have to make sure that "the others" are not Muslim, or black, I guess, or you'll receive either death threats or get fired, depending. Better to slam safer targets such as America, George W, or any person who is either white, Republican, Christian or Catholic, because friends, it is open season on them.