In the Pupping Zone

Let me get my biases out in the open to start:

1. I think baby seals are cute.
2. I think going to the beach is highly overrated.

So I find myself siding entirely with the seals in the dispute over who gets an historic beach in the tony La Jolla section of San Diego. From the New York Times:

It is generally agreed that the intruders, being harbor seals and all, are cute, and that they do not seem to be going anywhere. But their antics — including females giving birth right there on the sand — are driving some people crazy. And into court.

Antics? Oh those crazy female seals, giving birth on the beach. What will they think of next?

“It was kind of a family beach,” said Valerie O’Sullivan, an avid swimmer who filed a lawsuit against the city in 2004 to restore the beach for human use.”This isn’t the only place for the seals. There are plenty of seals up and down the coast.”

If I recall correctly, there is plenty of beach up and down the coast. Is this the only place in SoCal to swim?

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is charged with protecting sea creatures, put up signs warning that it is a federal offense to deliberately disturb the seals and last year installed a camera to keep watch from its main regional office in Long Beach.

But the beach is open to human use. In April, the city, on the suggestion of federal authorities, agreed to restore a rope line across part of the beach during pupping season, from January to May, to discourage human contact with the seals.

When Michelle and I honeymooned, we went to La Jolla to see the seals. At that time (April, 2002) the rope line was up to keep people out of the pupping zone. (The Pupping Zone might be a cool name for a restaurant or a band, or a blog, now that I think of it).

A few years ago, nine swimmers, now known as the La Jolla 9, tried to swim ashore at the beach to prove humans and seals could readily share it. But the seals rushed into the water as the swimmers approached; one swimmer was accused of battering a seal in a panic, and all of them were cited for disturbing the seals.

I’m no expert, but if I were to confront a beachful of seals I’d probably do it on the beach, instead of in the water where, dare I say, the seals would have an advantage.

“Look at that!” said Gina Montefusco, a visitor from Washington, D.C. “This is just unique. I’m not sure I have ever seen wildlife actually in the wild, and never this close.”

Gina’s got to get out more. Go to a park and watch squirrels collecting nuts or ducks swimming on the pond. Then head out to a bite to eat. I hear there’s this great new place called The Pupping Zone…

Tags: California San Diego La Jolla harbor seals beach

Mitt’s ‘tar baby’ turns the news world upside down

It used to be that you knew exactly what you were going to get when you opened the morning papers.

If you read the Globe, you knew that Democrats would get the benefit of the doubt, and that Republicans would be viewed critically, if the Globe deigned to cover them at all. If you picked up a Herald, Governor Romney (or Cellucci, or Weld) would get the soft shoe treatment, while it was open season on Democrats.

I find that familiarity comfortable.

So I had to double check what I was reading this morning as I caught up on the governor’s controversial comments in Iowa over the weekend. In response to a question about the Big Dig, he replied, “The best thing for me to do politically is stay away from the Big Dig – just get as far away from that tar baby as I possibly can.”

The Herald coverage of Romney’s visit bordered on hysterical, with the screaming front page and an article that quoted black activists and personalities condemning the governor’s comments. For instance:

“Tar baby is a totally inappropriate phrase in the 21st century. If Calvin Coolidge didn’t use it, why the hell should Mitt Romney?” railed Larry Jones, a black Republican and civil rights activist….”He thinks he’s presidential timber, but all he’s shown us is arrogance.”

…..

“He (Romney) obviously has lived a sheltered life,” said Leonard Alkins, president of the Boston NAACP. “He’s completely disconnected with reality in terms of racial sensitivity. He just does not get it.”

Maurice Lewis, a former Boston television reporter who is black, said of Romney’s choice of words, “I just think it’s reflective of how he sees people who don’t look like him. Words like tar baby and pickaninny are deeply rooted in the segregation of America. They don’t have an ever-changing, ever-expanding meaning.”

Jimmy Myers, host of the WILD 1090 AM morning talk show “Talk to Me,” said, “I think someone who is close to Gov. Romney needs to explain to him a part of history that maybe his blue blood doesn’t let him see.

“Mitt Romney is an empty suit,” said Myers, who is black. “Well, now he’s an empty suit with a little tar on him. He’ll need miracle cleaner to get out of this one.”

Surprisingly, the Globe’s coverage presented a nearly opposite view, with most of the people interviewed for the article pooh-poohing the significance of the statement:

In 1981, author Toni Morrison published a novel titled “Tar Baby,” and she has compared the expression to other racial epithets. She says it’s a term that white people used to refer to black children, especially black girls.

Reached at her home near Princeton University, where she teaches, Morrison called the expression “antiquated” and one that’s “attractive to some people, when they
begin to search for hints of racism….How it became a racial epithet, I don’t know,” she said. “It was my attempt to rescue the phrase from its low meaning. I wanted to annihilate the connotation and return the meaning to its origins. Apparently, I haven’t succeeded.”

…..

“I don’t believe he was making a disparaging remark, and if he was, I’d be the first person to call him,” said Don Muhammad, minister of the Nation of Islam in Boston, who said he had not heard the expression in 50 years. “I suppose one ought to be allowed to clarify his remarks. I have no problem with it.”

The Rev. Ray Hammond, chairman of the Boston Ten Point Coalition, said that he spoke to Romney yesterday and that the governor was contrite.

“I certainly understand why people are upset about it,” he said. “He was very clear that he knew nothing about the history or the racist overtone of the term. He was mortified and he was very apologetic. I suspect he just didn’t understand the origin of the term.” He said he wouldn’t use the term in the future, based on what he now understands.

The Rev. Eugene Rivers III, whose Ella J. Baker House recently received a state grant Romney steered to him to fight youth violence, said questions raised about the governor’s word usage were akin to a tempest in a teapot.

“It’s not the language I would use,” he said. “It’s too easy to be misunderstood. Someone could incorrectly assume that there is a racial subtext, for which there is no basis in fact. But I think some people read too much in language in a politically overcorrect environment. Frankly, what the governor has done on the public safety stuff would trump any colorful language he used.”

Even liberal media critic Dan Kennedy mostly gave Romney a pass on this one. In fact, I think this is much ado about nothing (or at least very little). Was the use of the term “tar baby” insensitve? Probably. It’s very easy to be insensitive about something you don’t know or haven’t experienced. I’m sure I’ve said things that have been insensitive because I wasn’t aware that I was offending anyone. Didn’t make what I said right, but didn’t make it malicious or racist either.

I think the Globe covered the issue fairly, while the Herald was over the top in their treatment. I suppose that’s my lesson for today: at the Herald, controversy trumps politics, even for a favorite son.

Update: Adam Reilly at the Phoenix uses this opportunity to remind us of Mitt Romney’s greatest gaffes.

Tags: Massachusetts Mitt Romney Big Dig Tar Baby Iowa Republican Election 2008

Breaking News!

Headline in today’s Sentinel and Enterprise:

Florida man admitted to smoking crack with girlfriend

Tomorrow:

West Virginia man admitted to having false teeth

Sunday:

Texas man admitted to owning gun

Tags: Sentinel and Enterprise Florida crack West Virginia Texas

Guess I won’t have to watch COPS after all

Just as I was gearing up to break my 18-year streak of never watching “Cops,” it looks like the show won’t be filming in Worcester any more. Apparently, the Worcester PD has decided to pull the plug on the show. Their announcement reads, in part:

…when asked to balance the perceived negative aspects of the program with positive stories of the community work that is taking place at all levels of this department, “Cops” producers stated that those stories are not the premise of the show and do not resonate to their target audiences.

“Positive stories of the community?” I guess I’m not the only one who hasn’t been watching “Cops.”

(via Radioball)

Tags: Massachusetts Worcester Police Fox Television “Cops”

Growing up too fast

I’m not an expert in child development, don’t play one on TV, and didn’t stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. Even so, I was startled by Mayor Mazzarella’s position on a proposal that the town of Leominster buy the former Julie Country Day School and use the space to expand kindergarten in the city. From today’s Sentinel and Enterprise:

Mazzarella said the city is already looking into buying the school, but he thinks there may be enough space for more all-day kindergarten in some existing schools.

“We have Sky View that was built for 1,200 students, and there’s 700-plus students up there,” said Mazzarella, who serves as chairman of the school committee.

Is the mayor actually suggesting that we have the city’s four and five year olds go to school with the seventh and eighth graders at Sky View Middle School? Again, I’m no expert, but it seems to me that our kids grow up fast enough as it is, without sending kindergarteners to middle school.

Tags: Massachusetts Leominster School Kindergarten Middle School Dean Mazzarella

Whodathunkit?

Lance Bass? Gay? You don’t say…

Former ‘N Sync member Lance Bass has revealed he’s gay.

He tells People magazine that he kept his sexuality under wraps during his ‘N Sync days because he was afraid it would derail the band’s success. He says he knew that if he “ever acted on it” or admitted it, then “it would overpower everything.”

He says he’s coming out now because rumors of his sexuality were growing louder. But he stresses that he’s happy and not at all ashamed of being gay. He says “I don’t think it’s wrong, I’m not devastated going through this. I’m more liberated and happy than Ive been my whole life.”

Bass says he’s in a “very stable” relationship with model-actor-Amazing Race winner Reichen Lehmkuhl.

Tags: Lance Bass Gay

Fire up the Tivo: “COPS: Worcester” coming soon

I don’t think I’ve ever watched an entire episode of “Cops.” Watching police arrest toothless crack ‘hos and settle down Billy Joe and Bobbi Sue after they’ve ransacked the trailer just doesn’t do it for me.

But this season I may have to make time, since “Cops” is coming to Worcester:

WORCESTER–”Bad boys, bad boys whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for you?”

Whatever they do, it’s going to be on camera. The show “Cops,” seen on Fox, started filming in the city this week and plans to be here for several more.

A crew for the long-running and popular show that puts cameras right with police as they chase culprits, handcuff criminals and detain many shirtless perpetrators was at police headquarters Tuesday.

Jimmy Langley, a “Cops” producer, confirmed that crews would be riding along with the Worcester Police Department for several weeks. He said filming began Tuesday night, for future airings.

Not everyone is as excited as I am about this development. In today’s Telegram, Dianne Williamson caught up with some activists protesting the show:

Protesters are accusing local police of “putting on a show” for a Fox camera crew, but I’m thinking the protesters doth protest too much.

Yesterday in front of City Hall, during the summer silly season, some 70 people gathered to complain that Worcester police transfixed by their star potential are harassing innocent citizens and running roughshod like Nazis over their rights, all for the chance to appear on the Fox reality show, “Cops.”

I’m not buying it. But I am impressed with the show put on by the usual suspects of potentially peeved protesters.

…..

The protesters are making some serious claims, saying that police have been harassing teens and homeless people since the “Cops” crew showed up last week. [Community activist Kevin] Ksen said a mother told him that her 13-year-old son was “jumped” by a cop. He said “everyone I’ve talked to has had a run-in with the police.” But my favorite tale involves a church worker who was supposedly arrested by police for double parking — while dropping off a blind woman. Mr. Ksen admits that he heard the latter story “second hand,” but he obviously knows the value of a good yarn.

Oh, I hope that last one is true. Forget the pimps and ‘hos, that would be good television.

Tags: Massachusetts Worcester Police Fox Television “Cops”

Is this the cutest baby…

…or what?

Jackson smiling.

Jackson’s first story.

Jackson’s first time with the rattle.

Doing the Tomahawk Drop

WCBS in New York is reporting that a truck carrying a Tomahawk missile dropped the weapon on I-95 in the Bronx after being rear-ended by another truck.

Huh?

Shouldn’t there be some sort of military escort or something when we’re trucking cruise missiles from one part of the country to another? When I was a kid, it wasn’t unusual to pass a line of military vehicles on the highway transporting a tank or some other equipment to or from Fort Devens before it closed. You’d think a Humvee or two, or at least a couple of jeeps would escort this type of cargo to make sure that there weren’t any accidents. If we require a double-wide trailer or other “wide loads” to be escorted along our highways, shouldn’t we have some sort of protocol to escort a multi-million dollar cruise-missile?

And how does it roll off a flat-bed truck? Isn’t there some way to secure the missile to the truck so that it won’t bounce down the highway in the event of an accident?

Besides, who trucks a missile through the heart of New York City anyway? When I travel south from New England, I head out across the Tappan Zee bridge and down one of the parkways (or even to 287) so that I can avoid the city, and I don’t carry explosive munitions.

(via Wonkette)

Tags: New York BronxTomahawk Missile Crash I-95

Belichick on the hot seat?

Looks like Bill Belichick might be in for a little grilling soon. Seems he’s been named as the “other man” in a divorce proceeding in New Jersey. From the Boston Herald:

Bill Belichick has been named The Other Man in an ugly New Jersey divorce case and the jilted hubby has asked the court to let his lawyers quiz the New England Patriots head coach about his relationship with the missus, a blond fortysomething mother of two.

Vincent Shenocca, a 42-year-old New Jersey construction worker, filed for divorce from his wife, Sharon, a former receptionist with the New York Giants, on the grounds of “extreme mental cruelty.” Shenocca’s court papers say his wife of 10 years “has had a relationship with Bill Belichick for several years” and would not end it, despite her husband’s pleas.

“This relationship appears to have blossomed, including more frequent telephone calls, and (Mrs. Shenocca’s) receipt of large sums of money and expensive gifts from Mr. Belichick, which she has used to purchase expensive clothing, pocketbooks, watches, a treadmill and maid service, most of which she initially hid from (her husband),” the New Jersey court papers say.

Shenocca told his wife “that he did not feel comfortable with her receipt of expensive gifts and large sums of money from Mr. Belichick,” the papers continue, but she “refused to consider (his) feelings and has continued her relationship with Mr. Belichick.”

Shenocca’s attorneys filed a request with the court yesterday asking for permission to take Belichick’s deposition to quiz him about what exactly is going on between him and the attractive blonde. A hearing is set for early August.

That deposition would be worth hearing. I can only imagine:

Attorney: Please state your name and occupation.
Belichick: My name is Bill Belichick. I’m the HC of the NEP.

Attorney: How would you classify your relationship with Mrs. Shenocca?
Belichick: I’m a man. She’s a woman. We relate. I guess that makes it a relationship.

Attorney: Would you say you had a sexual relationship?
Belichick: I can’t say. I’m not an expert on that. There are experts for that sort of thing.

Attorney: I undestand you gave Mrs. Shenocca a watch. Could you describe the watch?
Belichick: It’s a watch. It keeps time. It is what it is.

Attorney: Would you classify it as an expensive watch?
Belichick: I’m not a jeweler. You’d have to ask him.

Attorney: How much did you pay for the watch?
Belichick: I won’t comment on contracts.

Attorney: What would you have to say to Mrs. Shenocca if she had attended the deposition today?
Belichick: I won’t comment on the parties that aren’t here. We’re here to give a deposition and we have enough to do without worrying about who isn’t here.

Attorney: Thank you.

Tags: New England Patriots Bill Belichick Divorce Deposition