The World Around You

How many articles have we seen like this since September 11th. Everytime someone thinks we are close, we’re not as close as we think. I’m tired of being close, it is way way way past time to get this man. And he is just that, a man. He is not the devil, he does not have superpowers. He is one man who has outrun the US military and US intelligence for years. It must end.

My college football team’s season begins today on national television (ABC), so check them out! Are you ready for some football?

This year’s team isn’t as experienced, but expectations remain high. The Boilers potentially have a high-powered offense but possess an inexperienced defense with eight new starters.

That defense will be facing one of the nation’s best running backs today in the Orange’s Walter Reyes.

“We think (the Boilermakers) are going to be good football players. . . . But you’ve got to kind of show me,” said coach Joe Tiller, whose Purdue teams are 4-3 in openers. “I’ve got an opinion about these guys, but I’ve been around long enough to know that can go out the window in a hurry.”

The same holds true for Purdue defensive coordinator Brock Spack, the man in charge of rebuilding that defense.

“I think the question with a young defense is how well you’re going to tackle when it comes live,” Spack said. “We’ve tried to put them in position to do that all fall camp, but it will be a little more intense. This guy (Reyes) is an awfully tough back.”

**Crossposted at Sportsblog

JK Rowling offered fans a two-line glimpse of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, according to the BBC.

The first revealed line read: “He looked rather like an old lion.”

…

The second line read: “There were streaks of grey in his mane of tawny hair and his bushy eyebrows; he had keen yellowish eyes behind a pair of wire-rimmed spectacles and a certain rangy, loping grace even though he walked with a slight limp.”

The website did not explain who was being described or from which section of the novel the extract was taken.

There is an outstanding opinion piece in the Montgomery Advertiser today by Kimble Forrister regarding the upcoming sales tax holiday in Montgomery. I particularly agree with this argument:

The tax holiday offers little benefit to low-income people.

They have less flexibility to shift their purchases more than a week or two. By contrast, we are already hearing of customers picking out furniture in August for delivery on Oct. 2.

Although the Florida sales tax holiday is limited to school supplies and clothing items priced under $50, the Montgomery proposal has no such limit. (If you plan to buy a fur coat, wait until Oct. 2.) Those who can cash in the most on this windfall are the ones with the most cash in their bank accounts.

Why will there be no limit? The City Council discovered that Alabama law does not allow a city to restrict which items are taxable (that’s a state decision; only the rate is decided locally), and they decided to go ahead with no restrictions.

That’s just crazy. It’s a good reason for the council to go back to the drawing board. If they insist on pursuing a sales tax holiday despite its flaws, they should plan it for next August, after they ask the Legislature to allow the tax exemption only on back-to-school items under $50.

Nine out of ten Alabamians recognize obesity as a problem in America, but their ability to recognize whether they themselves are obese can be called into question.

Yet just 4 percent conceded that they are “very overweight.”

That’s coming from citizens of a state ranked among the chubbiest in the nation. In 2002, Alabama joined Mississippi and West Virginia as the only states with obesity rates topping 25 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And another 37 percent of Alabama’s population can expect medical problems from being overweight, according to the Alabama Center for Health Statistics.

This really illustrates one of the points I have been making about this issue for some time. I constantly hear people say, oh we all know what’s bad for us, we know, we know. On some abstract level we know, but facing reality is not a strong suit of the human condition. I don’t believe most people who fall into the obese category truly know they are there. Most people believe that “a little overweight” is a much larger category than it really is.

I was also disturbed by this finding from the survey.

Informed that the federal government will spend $400 million this year and $460 million next year fighting obesity, just 9 percent said that was not enough money. Forty-three percent called it too much, while 35 percent said it sounded about right.

This is not nearly enough to be spending on a problem that causes such a drain on our health system. Of course, the way the question is asked has a lot to do with the responses received, but we have a lot more work to do on public education in this arena.

It’s always good to see positive press for Alabama, like this note from this morning’s Birmingham News:

“Fahrenheit 9/11″ director Michael Moore, an avowed enemy of President Bush, wrote opinion columns for USA Today last week during the Republican Convention.

Alabama delegates to the GOP convention weren’t pleased with the idea of Moore traipsing around Madison Square Garden. Here’s what one said, according to the New York Daily News:

“I’m from South Alabama, and we’re used to dealing with jackasses, and so I look forward to making his acquaintance. In Alabama, there are probably a few good ol’ boys who would know how to put a good knot on his head,” delegate Terry Butts said.

Way to go Terry, tacitly threatening assault on a member of the press, that’s the way to change Alabama’s image for the better.