- What does the city of the future look like? That’s what
thousands of experts and leaders from around the world are trying to figure out
at their gathering in South America to dream up the city of the future. Sure,
the continent is still struggling with urban planning issues such as slums that
have dogged the continent for decades, but let’s plow ahead with the third
United Nations Habitat Conference, which kicked off in Quito, Ecuador this week
with the goal of tackling haphazard growth and fostering livable,
self-sustaining cities amid a boom in the global urban population. With a guest
list that includes United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, 11 presidents
and hundreds of experts, clearly there is plenty of brain power to figure out
what to do with the hundreds of thousands of impoverished people who call the
continent home, such as those dwelling in the favelas of Brazil, which were
nicely glossed over by so many who came to the country for the World Cup and
Summer Olympics. It’s a nice coincidence that the meeting comes just as a
downturn in prices for global commodities has threatened gains made in
government-constructed public housing helping many escape the sprawling
shantytowns that creep up the hills of South American cities. The United
Nations always brings concrete solutions and real results wherever it goes, so
this conference will no doubt bring more of the same to South America for many,
many years to come……..
- Is Bob Dylan too cool for even the Nobel Prize? Maybe so,
because the iconic singer/songwriter has been AWOL for the Swedish Academy
since it awarded him the Nobel Prize for Literature last week. It’s an
incredibly prestigious award given to an individual who has produced "in
the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction” and no
less of stars than Leonard Cohen, The Rolling Stones and Tom Waits have all
congratulated Dylan on his historic win, but he has yet to respond to the
academy to arrange his receipt of the award. "Right now we are doing nothing.
I have called and sent emails to his closest collaborator and received very
friendly replies. For now, that is certainly enough," said the academy's
permanent secretary, Sara Danius. "I am not at all worried. I think he
will show up. If he doesn't want to come, he won’t come. It will be a big party
in any case and the honor belongs to him." In choosing Dylan for the
award, the academy noted that he had "created new poetic expressions
within the great American song tradition.” Dylan has been invited to Stockholm
to collect his prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf on Dec. 10, but so far the idea
of meeting the king and being honored by the academy doesn’t seem to have
appealed to him all that much. Maybe at the age of 75, he figures that he
doesn’t need another party in his honor and is choosing to remain in the
shadows………
- Delivering the word of God with emphasis is clearly the
specialty of traveling preacher Ross Jackson. Sometimes the gospel needs to be
punched - or elbowed - home in order for the recipient to truly feel the Lord’s
power, which Jackson demonstrated earlier this week during an appearance on the
University of Georgia campus. He’s been there for a few days, preaching
messages that some students have claimed felt more like slander. His messages caused
enough anger that some students made signs protesting against the preacher and
gathered around near Tate Plaza where Ross was preaching. He just so happened
to be wearing a body camera at the time of the incident in which he allegedly
elbowed a student in the face. In the 22-minute video, Jackson has an angry,
running exchange with two students and at once point, Jackson asks nearby
police officers if students being in his face is a crime, but officers said it
wasn’t. A short time later, Jackson was arrested for simple battery. In his
video defending himself, he claimed that he was "constantly encroached
upon, harassed and verbally abused by a white student while exercising his
constitutional right to preach." Apparently, elbowing someone to defend
that right is a crime and one for which he was booked into the Athens Clarke
County jail. It’s usually not a good idea to go on YouTube and try to defend
yourself during an ongoing criminal case, but maybe this man of God will find
salvation via streaming video……..
- Nice publicity stunt, Canadian indigenous activist Douglas
Cardinal. Cardinal is the attention-seeking kook who made a last-minute legal
challenge to bar the Cleveland Indians from using their team name and
"Chief Wahoo" logo during the American League Championship Series
games in Toronto. An Ontario judge quashed the lame-ass effort prior Monday's
night playoff game in Toronto, rebuking Cardinal’s publicity stunt centering on
the long-standing logo, which appears on some team caps and jerseys, and
depicts a grinning, red-faced cartoon with a feather headband. The logo has
been the source of plenty of controversy over the years and the Indians dropped
Wahoo as their primary logo two years ago, switching to a block "C,” and
reduced the logo's visibility. That hasn’t stopped grandstanders like Cardinal
from trying to gain attention by attacking the old logo, but Ontario Superior
Court Justice Tom McEwen dismissed Cardinal's application. The ridiculous
argument presented by Monique Jilesen, the lawyer for Cardinal, was that the
games could be played with spring training uniforms that don't carry the name
or "Chief Wahoo" logo. "You could not call a team the New York
Jews. Why is it OK to call a team the Cleveland Indians?" Jilesen told the
judge. The absurdity of this case isn't so much the argument against the logo,
but rather that Cardinal didn’t lodge his case during any of the Indians’
multiple regular-season series in Toronto, but rather waited until a
high-profile event like the ALCS in order to get as much publicity as possible.
The scene in the courtroom was almost comical as at least 27 lawyers
representing the Cleveland Indians, Major League Baseball and others, including
the plaintiffs, attended the hearing. In its defense, MLB said it "appreciates
the concerns" of those who find the name and logo "offensive,” so
it’s not dismissing those concerns….it just doesn’t give a damn……..
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