Articles for February 9th, 2012
Why Dallas ISD Shouldn’t Have Taken Any Students to See Red Tails For Black History Month
Some of the Tuskegee Airmen in 'Red Tails.'
The Morning News is all over a breaking story that today Dallas ISD took about 5,000 fifth-graders to see the movie Red Tails, about the exploits of the famed Tuskegee Airmen – the first black American combat pilots – during World War II. Reporter Matthew Haag’s blog post is right to ask why only boys were taken to the show. (The DISD spokesman says there was only so much space available at the theater, so the girls were left at school, with principals given the option of showing them Akeelah and the Bee.)
I am less concerned with the differing treatment of the genders in this situation than I am with the fact that any kids at all were taken, by our public school system, to see Red Tails. Â I gave it a so-so, better-than-a-kick-to-the-teeth review on FrontRow. The movie’s not very good. More importantly, it’s not a history lesson. It’s more like propaganda.
Audio of Pilar Sanders Fighting With Deion’s Aunt Laura
You know by now about the messy domestic situation going on between Deion Sanders and his wife, Pilar. The other day, Pilar got into a fight with someone Deion calls Aunt Laura. I don’t think she’s really his aunt. You’ll have to ask someone in the Community about this, but Laura is his “play aunt,” apparently. Anyway, BaD Radio played actual audio of the fight and an interview that Laura did on K104. You must listen.
Catch Up On the Pilar-Deion Divorce EASILY
If, like me, you don’t have much of an attention spa — oh, man, did I lock my back door this morning? I always do, but for some reason now I feel like I didn’t. Anyway, do you know that zebra means “wild ass”? Because it totally does. Let’s see. OH. Hey, if you have a short attention span and just want to blaze through the highlights of the increasingly testy Pilar-Deion Sanders divorce, it is all pretty tidily summed up in this slideshow that features some pretty ladies and not a ton of taxing words.
Or, you could just let this performance by Jay-Z (with a full orchestra!) at Carnegie Hall sum it up. I think the song titles do it nicely.
Even For $600,000, Top Chef: Texas Can’t Tell the Difference Between Dallas and San Antonio
Dallas, not San Antonio.
Bravo’s Top Chef, you may have heard, has set its current season in Texas – namely rotating between the cities of San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin.  This is a departure from previous seasons which were each centered on a single city: San Francisco, Las Vegas, and New York among them.
The excuse for the change of pace is that Texas is just “too big” to have its season confined to one spot, but in reality the state tourism office paid Top Chef‘s production company $600,000 to feature San Antonio plus two other Texas cities. That money, however, didn’t teach Bravo how to differentiate between these locations.
Brinker Urged to Quit
Let’s grant that in handling the Planned Parenthood funding issue, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was ham-fisted and should have been a lot more transparent. And so long as abortion remains legal in this country, for better or worse, you might even argue that Komen’s planned cutoff of funds to PP wasn’t the swiftest move to start with.
But there’s no doubt now that the leftist/feminist machine has moved beyond feelings of betrayal into full-on attack mode, determined to pound the Dallas anti-cancer group into submission for its thought crimes. More specifically, they’re calling for Nancy Brinker’s head. The bottom line on all this: woe to anyone with the temerity to question the “enlightened” orthodoxy when it comes to the abortion issue. You will be punished.
See Raya Ramsey Talk About D Magazine Valentine’s Picks While Seated Next to Lingerie
As noted previously, ShopTalk‘s Raya Ramsey was on the telly early this morning.
WFAA Daybreak host Ron Corning got too caught up in his personal anecdote about the blue cheese chocolate at Dude, Sweet Chocolate and ran out of time to ask Raya about where she got the lingerie that she’s seated next to during the segment (much to Uncle Barky’s delight).
Don’t worry: Raya will explain more about the “sassy” undergarments a little later on ShopTalk.
You can find all our Dallas Valentine’s recommendations here.
Things To Do In Dallas Tonight: Feb. 9
As I have maybe mentioned one or two times before, my best friend Pam is a lovely person. She taught me how to yell at cabbies and she tried to teach me how to properly order a bagel. Pam’s currently studying to be a fancy lawyer, but she’s a creative spirit with a romantic attachment to radio and she loves talking to people. That’s why she was the first in our circle of pals to really get into StoryCorps, the oral history project founded by Dave Isay in 2003. It’s morphed from Internet radio program to anthropologist’s dream, with an archive of over 30,000 interviews that lend insight into how Americans work, live, and love.
You might remember the touching tale that made its way around the Internet a couple of summers ago. It was the love story of Danny and Annie, two Brooklynites who were married for 27 years until death did them part. Before Danny passed away from incurable cancer, they both sat down for an interview that StoryCorps preserved as a beautiful (and tearjerking) animated short. I wish I’d done this with my grandparents before my grandfather got sick– they were married for 65 years, and knew each other for more than 70. Go watch the short, and then go buy a ticket to Isay’s talk tonight at the Dallas Museum of Art, part of the museum’s Arts & Letters Live series. He’ll discuss the project as well as his most recently published book, All There Is, a collection of StoryCorps’ most inspiring love stories.
If you haven’t had a chance to check out Bolsa Mercado, tonight’s a good night to go. JR Richardson of Oak Cliff Cellars is hosting an informal wine chat, so you can taste some vino and ask questions to your heart’s content. Then, pick up something delicious for dinner (they have sandwiches, paninis, and full gourmet dinner offerings ready to go). These photos on SideDish will make you hungry.
For more to do with your Thursday evening, go here.
Ralph Nader Versus American Airlines
Legendary consumer advocate and sometimes Presidential candidate Ralph Nader is pretty upset at American Airlines right now. It seems that Nader had a middle seat booked on a flight from Hartford to DFW, and being 6-foot-4, he wanted an aisle seat. The airline did have some aisle seats available, they told him, but only for “preferred” customers. Nader could have joined that club, but it would have cost him $2,000. So he’s taking to the airwaves, calling the airline’s practice “extortion.” An American spokesman says the policy is simply to reward the most “loyal” customers. This is also not the first time Nader has taken on an airline either, and last time he won.
Despite What You’ve Read, Police Incident Reports Are Available
In today’s Dallas Morning News, there’s a story that says dallaspolice.net is still offline after being attacked by hackers. And this morning, police beat writer Scott Goldstein tweeted “Still no @DallasPD website this morning after weekend hacker attack that police won’t call a hacker attack.”
Yet this week’s editions of Park Cities People, Preston Hollow People, and Oak Cliff People – which went to press last night and will be delivered this afternoon – are chock full of crime news. How did this happen?
Well, ever-resourceful reporter Bradford Pearson figured out that the incident reports can be accessed if you bypass the home page and type in a slightly different URL: policereports.dallaspolice.net.
You’re welcome, Scott.
Leading Off (2/9/12)
Mavs End Losing Streak, Dirk Nowitzki Moves to No. 21 On All-Time Scoring List. Dirk surpassed former Maverick Adrian Dantley and is something like 200 points behind Robert Parish for No. 20. I usually have something for situations like this. What is it? Oh, right: I SEE YOU, BIG GERMAN.
Debate Over Deep Ellum School Turns Emotional. “I’m not going to personally stand for poor people to get bad education any more!” said Mayor Mike Rawlings. I see both sides of this. Actually there are lot more sides than that. It’s like a Dungeons & Dragons die. I guess? I never really played. Anyway, it’s an education issue, so I’m sure it’ll get settled quickly and quietly.
Arlington Councilman Questioned Over Drug Use. Councilman Mel LeBlanc’s wife narced on him after she found some marijuana (he’s already been to rehab), so now everyone is up in his business, asking questions and such. First question: Why do you live in Arlington? Second: And you willingly serve on the city council? Third: You must smoke, like, a ton of weed then, no? Fourth: Seriously, like a lot a lot right? Fifth: Do you know any other Mels? Because it seems like you probably don’t run into many others anymore. Sixth: Why do some names just die out? Like Norman. It used to be popular and now I bet there aren’t two kids born in Dallas all year with that name. Seventh: Do Arlington city council members get special rates at Six Flags? I feel like they should. Eighth: Do you like how they wrote that story and made it seem like it was probably crack you were caught with, but it was really just marijuana, and yeah, that’s still a drug and since you’re a public official still a big deal, but the reporter was probably ticked it wasn’t crack, because, let’s face it, that’s a much more awesome story, and so you kind of got shafted a little bit? Anyway, good rapping at you, Mel.
CBS 11 Political Reporter Jack Fink Has One-On-One Interview With Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum. It’s here, if you want it. At no point, however, does Santorum do this, so I’m not sure I’d bother. But I’d like to personally thank Fink and the rest of the hardworking CBS 11 team for going through the trouble to make that happen so I’d have a clear excuse to post that GIF. Guys, you may be 11 on the dial but you’re No. 1 in my heart, and I hope you know that.
BREAKING: “Nearly Everyone Speeds On Dallas Freeways.” “Holy s–t, are you kidding me?” said absolutely no one ever.
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