Leading Off (11/18/08)

1. A Dallas City Council committee debated whether to strengthen the city’s smoking ban by forbidding intake of the glorious hot smoke in bars, billiard halls, and within 15 feet of the entrance of most buildings. The debate led to this comment by the cartoonishly named Sheffie Kadane: “That’s communistic.” Then Angela Hunt complained about people who “push smoke down my lungs.” The meeting closed with Zac Crain screaming for justice, igniting a flashbomb with a  lit Marlboro Light, and swinging away on his bat rope.

2. A new study says 95 percent of science professors prefer teaching evoloution only (not in conjunction with “intelligent design”) as part of their curriculum, leading to the question of what the other 5 percent of those surveyed think the word “science” means.

3. Upset at his reduced playing time, Jerry Stackhouse is considering leaving the Dallas Mavericks. The odds of him parting with the team are greater than 29 percent, which is his current shooting percentage, but less than 94 percent, which is the likelihood he puts up a forced shot after dribbling the shot clock down to three seconds. Mark Cuban responded by selling all his shares of JerryStackhouse.com.

22 comments

  1. Does this mean Pat Robertson is now going to have to start teaching science at Regent U?
    Now if we could just do something about the people making decisions about our kids in the great state of Texas, particularly the graduates of Regent U who believe the tooth fairy and santa claus played a part in the world being what it is today!

    @ 8:17 am on November 18, 2008
  2. Mr. Cuban called the government’s allegations false and indicated a belief that SEC staffers were out to get him. He will will vigorously fight to prove his innocence. IMHO this is just another example of the feds unfairly making an example of a high-profile citizen who has dared to publicly criticize the government. $750,000 is chump change to Mark Cuban and he has never made a secret of his sale of mamma.com stock when the company decided to go “private” and change direction. Mr. Cuban is a long time critic of both the federal government and the SEC.

    I hope that this federal targeting will inspire Mr. Cuban to support the Libertarian Party with some of his billions. Government at all levels is too large, too expensive, woefully inefficient, arrogant, intrusive, and downright dangerous. Democratic and Republican politicians have created the status quo and do not intend to change it. http://www.lp.org

    @ 8:23 am on November 18, 2008
  3. Trey?

    @ 8:37 am on November 18, 2008
  4. ‘Evolution’ is misspelled.

    @ 8:47 am on November 18, 2008
  5. Heh.

    @ 8:52 am on November 18, 2008
  6. OK, seriously. Smoking ban? When the city is in the hole? Sure, a smoking ban would solve that whole pushing smoke in Angela’s lungs thing, but wouldn’t it be more fiscally responsible to see how the city might be able to make money from it?

    Sell a permit (flat fee or sliding-scale based on percentage of sales) that allows an establishment to allow smoking. They can advertise that they are smoking or non-smoking with a sticker on the door, or whatevs.

    But a flat out ban? Cutting your nose off to spite your face.

    @ 9:05 am on November 18, 2008
  7. “Evolotion” is in, but spelling is out, apparently ;)

    @ 9:06 am on November 18, 2008
  8. Evolotion sounds like a moisturizer you’d buy late at night, from an infomercial.

    @ 9:12 am on November 18, 2008
  9. Evolotion: help your skin adapt.®

    @ 9:13 am on November 18, 2008
  10. Rachel Ray spells is “EVOOlotion”.

    @ 9:15 am on November 18, 2008
  11. Now I can’t spell either. I meant “spells it”. Frontburner makes me dumb.

    @ 9:16 am on November 18, 2008
  12. No, watching Rachel Ray makes you dumb.

    @ 9:19 am on November 18, 2008
  13. Watching Rachael Ray makes me want to stick something sharp in my eye.

    @ 9:21 am on November 18, 2008
  14. Evolotion: the natural selection.®

    @ 9:24 am on November 18, 2008
  15. Evolotion: Revival of the dryest.®

    @ 9:25 am on November 18, 2008
  16. (applause for Gwyon)

    @ 9:29 am on November 18, 2008
  17. (Sorry about “the Sunlight Man” … a tag to indicate undulating waves of snark … commendation of Gwyon’s wit is sincere, though)

    @ 9:32 am on November 18, 2008
  18. There. Dammit.

    @ 9:33 am on November 18, 2008
  19. Why don’t you guys fix the frontburner link on your home page and the top of this page. Did you guys lay off the person who knew how to fix the links?

    @ 10:06 am on November 18, 2008
  20. At least Zac’s flash bomb worked. The FBI has been having a little trouble with those things lately…

    @ 10:22 am on November 18, 2008
  21. Highest crime rate in the nation? check
    Failing school system? check
    Corrupt political system? check
    Overtaxed population? check
    Declining public services? check
    Homeless population at its highest level ever? check

    Wasting time debating a smoking ordinance instead of addressing any of the aforementioned issues? check.

    @ 12:01 pm on November 18, 2008
  22. @aw come on:
    Zac recommended clearing cache (temporary internet files) in comment on another post. It worked for me. In IE goto Tools => Internet options => browsing history => delete, then delete again on next menu option. Or, Google delete cache, internet explorer for a microsoft link with instructions.

    My snark button is restored, all is right with the word.

    And condolences to those who were laid off or had to do the choosing. I too have been on both sides of that.

    @ 1:38 pm on November 18, 2008