Jewish World Review
News of the Weird: Government for the People!?
By
Chuck Shepherd

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
• A British manufacturer, BCB International, is flourishing, buoyed by sales of its Kevlar underwear, at $65 a pair, to U.S. military personnel in Afghanistan and Iraq. However, soldiers and Marines must buy them directly; the "Bomb Boxers" are not supplied by the Pentagon even though nearly 10 percent of battlefield explosive-device injuries result in sometimes-catastrophic genital and rectal damage. According to an October report in Talking Points Memo, the Pentagon's currently issued protection is inferior to BCB's but is less expensive. (Although the Pentagon fully funds post-injury prostheses and colostomies, it could purchase about 7,700 Bomb Boxers for the price of a single Tomahawk missile.) [Talking Points Memo, 10-18-2011]
•In what a cement company executive said is "one of those bureaucratic things that doesn't make any sense," the city of Detroit recently built wheelchair ramps at 13 intersections along Grandy Street, despite knowing that those ramps are either not connected to sidewalks or connected to seldom-used, badly crumbling sidewalks. The ramps were required by a 2006 lawsuit settlement in which Detroit pledged to build ramps on any street that gets re-paved, as Grandy was. (No one in city government thought, apparently, to attempt a trade of these 13 intersections for paving 13 more-widely used ones in the city.) [Detroit News, 10-28-2011]
•A Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV investigation revealed in September and October the astonishing result that Illinois laws passed in 1997 and 2007 at the behest of organized labor have given at least three former union leaders lifetime government pensions as if they had been city or state employees, totaling an estimated drain on public budgets of about $7 million. Two teachers' union officials were allowed to teach exactly one day to qualify, and an engineers' union official was hired for exactly one day, with the remainder of the service of the three having been on the payroll of the respective unions. A September Tribune report estimated that perhaps 20 other union officials might have been eligible under similar provisions. [Chicago Tribune, 9-21-2011, 10-22-2011]
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Previously:
• Armed and Clumsy (All-New!)
• Bright Ideas
• Cutting-Edge Tactics?
• Society's collective yelp for help
• Casualties in the culture-war?; bloody sick
• Unclear on the Concept
• Ultimate Catfighting; Mixed Evidence on Smoking
• Do names portend the future?; Hey, It Could've Happened
• Can't Possibly Be True!
• You can't be trusted not to hurt yourself, citizens!
• They warp faith
• Inscrutable Asians
• HUH!?
• Questionable Judgments
• Leading Economic Indicators; A News of the Weird Classic (January 1995)
• DMV Is a Dangerous Place
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit!
• Weird Science; Recent Alarming Headlines
• What passes for cutting-edge fashion; Least Competent Criminals
• Compelling Explanations; Unclear on the Concept
• The Litigious Society
• Oh, the sweet irony!; Least Competent Criminals
• Bureaucrat's Delight; Creme de la Weird
• News That Sounds Like a Joke; (Very) Undignified Death
• Great, ahem, Art!
• Government in Action!
• A ride to die for --- literally!; Least Competent Criminals
• Fine Points of the Law
• People Different From Us
• The Continuing Crisis
• Risky Business Models; News of the Self-Indulgent
• Oops!; Sorry, Honey. I Was Aiming at the Dog
• No Respect
• Unclear on the Concept
• Don't read on a full stomach; Inexplicable
• Can't Possibly Be True!
• Direct Pipelines from the Pentagon to U.S. Enemies
• This can't be true!
• All cultures are equal!?
• People With Issues; Least Competent Criminals
• The perfect marriage?; heavenly points for trying?
• Pervs on Parade; Least Competent People
• HUH!????
• Our Animal Sidekicks
• No, Thanks!
• For Self-Indulgent Crackpots
• The Pervo-American Community; Least Competent Criminals
• The Continuing Crisis
• Compelling Explanations?
• Ironies
• Government turns TLC into crime, fine
• The Pervo-American Community; truly bizarre historical trivia
• Coincidence?; Catch-22; Unclear on the Concept
• Jobs-for-life; Bats' Rights
• Government in Action!
• Ironic twist on affirmative action; Ah, art!
• Names in the News (For Immature Readers Only, Please!); Pathetic losers
• The continuing crisis, con't; The Pervo-American Community
• The Continuing Crisis
• New meaning for adult toy; OOPS! Wrong crime
• THE NERVE!
• Police Blotter
• Recent Confusing Headlines; People With Issues
• Unclear on the Concept
• Can't Possibly Be True!
• Respect all cultures!?; screwed for something he didn't
• Least Competent Criminals; He's full of . . . .
• MORE Questionable Judgments
• Questionable Judgments
• Cultural Diversity
• White men can …; Cutting-Edge Research
• Undignified Deaths; Recurring Themes
• People Different From Us --- And Most!; Leading Economic Indicators
• Civilization in Decline: Growing Up Early
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit!
• Life lessons for make-believe world; Armed and Clumsy (all-new!)
• Recurring Themes; Update
• You just had to open that yap of yours, didn't you!?
• Ironies
• Fan-atic$; Unclear on the Concept
• Easily Offended
• Criminals With Chutzpah; Least Competent Non-Criminals
• Almost (Deservedly) Dead in Bed; Gee, whiz genius; They Call it Art!
• More of your Government in Action!
• Government in Action!
• The Aristocrats!
• Oops!
• The Continuing Crisis
• Bright Ideas
• OOPS!
• People With Issues
• News That Sounds Like a Joke; Inexplicable
• Can't Possibly Be True!, II
• Can't Possibly Be True!
• T-moo-I!; Unclear on the Concept
• Creme de la Weird; Least Competent Gun-Handling
• HUH!?; Questionable Judgments
• Our screwed-up world
• The Classic Middle Name (all-new!); Unclear on the Concept
• Least Competent Patient; Rights of the Disabled
• Procreation Interventions; Weird Animals
• Who says we're in a recession!?; Navel Observatory
• Fine Points of the Law; Medical Marvels
• How the Saudis hold beauty contests; The Entrepreneurial Spirit!; Noses Know
• Cliche Come to Life; art!?; worse
• I Demand My Rights!; Signs of the Times
• Compelling Explanations; 'Wrong' Impressions
• Ironies
• Least Competent Criminals
• HUH!?
• When government bombs; Bizarre art
• Chutzpah!
• Pakistan finds a use for transgendered; People With Issues
• Least Competent Criminals; Usual consequence for an unqualified student
• Why Unions Are Unpopular; Score One for Death Penalty Advocates
• Those who don't know when to shut their yap
• Overreaching
• Oops!; Wheeee!
• Least Competent Criminals; Last Words
• Inexplicable
• HUH!?
• Can't Possibly Be True!
• Zero Tolerance?; Willing to go to Indonesia to cure for emphysema?
• FANatic; what a putz literally!
• The ultimate loser; chutzpah X2
• Illegals become animals; When grow up! is not just a rebuke
• 'Good Housekeeping' for the bomber set; evolutionary hardiness in American drinkers?
• In case you are getting sentenced; when a best friend betrays
• Clever victim outwits thief
• Do names portend the future?
• Questionable Judgments
• They are definitely not US!
• Smooth Reactions; Least Competent Criminals
• People With Too Much Money
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit: Product Giveaways
• Weird Science
• Whoever said life is fair?
• Creme de la Weird; The Litigious Society
• Ironies
• Least Competent Criminals; Classic weirdness
• News That Sounds Like a Joke; The Weirdo-American Community
• Pathetic creeps
• Government in Action!
• People Different From Us; Least Competent Criminals Not Ready for Prime Time
• Not So Bright Ideas
• No Sense of Shame!
• Yikes!
• Change, the old fashioned way; Another Sovereign Citizen
• Elusive Perps; The Country Afraid of Its Own Shadow
• More Can't Possibly Be True!
• Inexplicable
• Can't Possibly Be True
• Things that make say HUH!?
• Least Competent Criminals; Classic
• SICK! SICK! SICK!
• Questionable Judgments
• All cultures are equal?
• Feeeeeeeh!
• Least Competent Criminals; She's repulsive, they're jealous
• The Entrepreneurial Spirit; Not Your Father's Scotch
• Science on the Cutting Edge
• Privacy v. art; The Continuing Crisis
• Recurring Themes; A News of the Weird Classic
• People With Issues; Least Competent Criminals
• Economics and witchcraft; Ironies
• From victims to tourist attractions; Wacky lawsuit
• Compelling Explanations
• Least Competent Criminals; People Who Ran Over Themselves
• Surprise!; 'That Was Easy!'
• Government in Action!
• Bizarre art
• Getting Old, Young; from the archives
• Undignified Deaths
• Bright Ideas; Least Competent Criminals
• Oops!; Failed to Think It Through
• The Continuing Crisis; Beloved Banker
• The ear has a G-spot
• Respect for All Cultures?
• First Things First
• Questionable State Regulation; Can't Possibly Be True
• Unclear on the Concept; Least Competent Criminals
• Where down is up; Can't Possibly Be True
• Least Competent Criminals; Things that Make You Say: Huh!?
• News That Sounds Like a Joke
• Cultural Diversity; eggs-ellent! (from the archives)
• News from Islam-land; Latest Cutting-Edge Research
• Those Ingenious Western Spies!; Cultural Diversity
• Can't Possibly Be True; Motherly Love
• Least Competent Criminals; Questionable Judgments
• This mafia really are animals; out of control businesses
• Science on the Cutting Edge
• Daring New Products
• Least Competent Criminals; from the archives
• If Life Gives You …
• Their Crimes Fit Their Names; Bright Ideas
• Latest Rights; Compelling Explanations
• One of the world's most bizarre conferences; delicious ironies
• Thinning the herd; Downgrade Cut Short; from the archives
• Cleverest Non-Humans; Medicare In Action
• Oops!; The Weirdo-American Community; Least Competent Criminals
• Life Imitates a Drew Barrymore Movie; Weird Science; Questionable Judgments
• Questionable Judgments; Great, ahem, Art!
• Fine Points of the Law; Thank Goodness for Narcissists
• Cliches Come to Life; First Things First; Fine Points of the Law
• News That Sounds Like a Joke; Suspicions Confirmed; Yikes!
• Do They Know?; Yikes!
• Catch-22 Catches Disabled Veteran; The Continuing Crisis; Best Not to Ask Why
© 2011, Chuck Shepherd. Distributed by Universal Uclick
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