Restaurants and Motorbikes

Eating in The Capitol is not only impressive, but can also be expensive. VB enjoys eating out, when there's good food to be had. In her little town in Connecticut, every single restaurant offers bad pizza, bad grinders, bad gyros, and just bad food choices, and it's all the same - as if one family owned all the restaurants. (Okay, one has good pizza and another has very good Japanese food, but that's it.) VB enjoys variety, and so last week when we were in Washington, we ate at:

Eric Ripert's West End Bistro. (Below) VB had the Fish Burger with the Macaroni, ham and cheese for two (she shared.) The Fish Burger is like a massive crab cake on a bun. We took a doggie bag of mac and cheese back to the hotel. Coincidentally, as VB was editing this, Serious Eats posted the recipe for The Fish Burger. VB can verify it's incredibly good, and actually looks like it might be healthy, as well (VB has a habit of picking the most unhealthiest foods from menus.)


The next evening we ate at Grillfish. After the waiter annoyingly repeated several times that there was just one serving of wild halibut left, VB raised her hand and said, "I'll take it." Thus reserving it, as someone else mused aloud, "how old is it?" We had already eaten the Ginger Calamari and Fried Calamari at the bar during happy hours, when drinks and bar food are half price. The halibut was excellent. VB should add that she had massive amounts of gin that evening, so just about anything on a plate would've been "excellent".


Friday afternoon, after watching the crazies on Capitol Hill, we ran off to Founding Farmers for luncheon rendezvous. Just about every restaurant we called was booked solid from 5:30 PM until 9:00 PM that evening, so we decided to do a big lunch instead. VB ordered the House Salad with Buttermilk Ranch, but was instead served with Bleu Cheese (she didn't send it back). She also had the Slow-Simmered Sirloin Chili: "48-Hour Marinated and Simmered Sirloin Chili with Beans, Cheddar Crisps, Grated Onions, and Grated Cheese". It may have been marinated for 48 hours, but there's no way that meat was slow simmered. VB likes the sirloin in her chili to fall apart, melt in her mouth, and be meaty. This was tough, and loaded with gristle. We also ordered the Skillet Corn Bread, at which someone commented, "This is just like yours." Yep, VB makes that exact same freaking bread!


That evening we walked to Dupont Circle in search of a place for drinks and small dishes. We found Zorba's Cafe. We were lucky enough to find a seat outside. We had Zorba's combination Plate containing meats and dips and two wedges of pita, another appetizer plate containing numerous dips, and a full carafe of Retsina on tap. The gyros pieces were amazing and done right (not half raw - they grilled it again after shaving it, which is how it should be)!, The retsina awesome! You have to have a taste for retsina to appreciate it when it comes from a tap (most Greek restaurants don't even offer it. Not even those chichi pseudo Greek restaurants in New York City.) Sorry, no photos from Zorba's.

Below: Our last meal in The Capitol, was a Ben's Chili Bowl. Needless to say we had chili. The boys had Bill Cosby's Original Chili Half-Smoke. VB had a bowl of chili (meat) with cheese and onions. We all shared the Chili-Cheese Fries. And, we saw photos of Obama when he visited earlier this year. We sat in the same area. VB wonders, if she sat in the same seat as Obama, will some of that brilliance rub off on her?

As we strolled back to the car, VB then took photos of the neighborhood, and these are two of her favorites.




While driving home to Connecticut, south of New Brunswick, on the New Jersey Turnpike, we encountered some teenagers on their Yamahas (or whatever small bikes they were riding). They descended upon us, at first, one by one, then in twos. VB tried to put a video together (yet another photo album with music). She should have videotaped this on her new iPhone, but she's a camera gal, and grabbed that first. Watch it if you'd like to (1) see what may come upon you as you journey through The Garden State; (2) Identify the assholes who are participating in this. After the first cycle passed, The Boss Man sped up. VB wondered if he was chasing the guy. The Boss Man said, "I'm going 80." As another bike passed furiously he added, "what do you think they're going?" They were going well over 100 miles per hour, and refusing to use lanes (squeezing in between two side-by-side cars) while one was even wearing his team jacket with his name on it! The highway patrol needs to grab these guys and revoke their licenses to drive, even if it's for a tricycle.



For a real taste of what we experienced, look at: this video.

Smoking, Drinking, Tackiness, And A Short Lesson In Spelling

Smoking or...
How To Ruin A Cuban Cigar Box

Plaster a creepy photo of some dude on oxygen along with a warning about the evils of smoking (just wait until Fidel gets a load of this!) and you too can ruin a completely nice cigar box, plus scare the willies out of anyone who sees it. BTW, these alarming photos are not included in the warnings on cartons or packs of cigarettes - yet. What gives? VB's guess was that most people in Egypt smoke cigarettes (Cleopatras), and the government must have given up on trying to scare them (short of beating or shooting them), so why not just waste money on scaring rich folks who smoke Cubans instead. What a waste (time, money, resources....) Well, not exactly - see the article below for more.

A lot of people who buy Cubans, are probably going to be more annoyed by the fact that their wonderful cigar boxes, they use to store small, intimate objects (like we do), have been debased by a macabre photo.

Stark warnings: Egypt's fledgling anti-smoking campaign comes on strong

"Starting Aug. 1, cigarette labels in Egypt will be required to carry images of the effects of smoking: a dying man in an oxygen mask, a coughing child and a limp cigarette symbolizing impotence.

The photo of the limp cigarette comes with the warning that "long-term smoking has an effect on marital relations" — somewhat coyer than a version the European Union has recommended for its member countries, which states directly that smoking causes impotence and shows a discontented young married couple sitting apart in bed."

(VB could say more on this, but she thinks most people will scoff at this example too - the decline of the family can be directly related to cigarette smoking? Gee, and as an American, VB thought it was all due to gay marriage. Silly girl.)

"A month ago, the country's new tobacco control department was launched, though it consists of only two people in a closet-sized office with no telephones and an annual budget of just $12,500."

"Some Egyptians are convinced only light cigarettes lead to impotence. Earlier this year, the state-owned manufacturer, Eastern Tobacco Company, voluntarily put pictures of diseased lungs on some packs — but smokers just figured those packs were the ones that were harmful and switched to others, which some shopowners promptly started selling at a higher price.

"I've been smoking since I was 8 years old — I used to pick up cigarette butts from the gutter and smoke them," laughed Hussein Hassan Mahmoud, a wizened 60-year-old butcher with one eye clouded from cataracts, sitting outside his Cairo shop enjoying a cigarette.

Mahmoud goes through three or four packs of the local Cleopatra cigarettes a day, at about 50 cents a pack, and he scoffed when shown the new warnings. "People will just tear the labels off."

"I Drink Your Milkshake! I Drink It Up!"
(And VB's not too happy about it either.)
Below two photos:
Ain't nothin' like payin' to drink bottled contaminated water, when you can get super chlorinated water for free, right out of the tap! (And VB thought the taste of super fluoridated Ohio River water was bad!)

A couple of months ago, we instructed Awesome Daughter, who is back in the States, to throw out all bottles with the #7 in the recycling triangle. Some municipalities are now trying to outlaw the use of this #7 plastic. VB waited, thinking maybe Egypt would follow through, but no.... We are still receiving Nestle bottled water in #7 jugs. Mind you, the smaller bottles are not #7, just the ones everyone buys to outfit their water coolers.

From The Green Guide - "#7 Polycarbonate contains the hormone disruptor bisphenol-A, which can leach out as bottles age, are heated or exposed to acidic solutions. Unfortunately, #7 is used in most baby bottles and five-gallon water jugs and in many reusable sports bottles."

1. How to recognize the real thing. "Bisphenol-A is found in clear, hard, shatterproof plastics. Often, the letters PC (for polycarbonate) and/or the number 7 will be stamped in the little recycling triangle on or near the bottom of the container. But not every plastic stamped with a 7 contains BPAs; your biggest clue is to look for hard, see-through, unbreakable things."

(Hmm, you mean like that big plasic piece of shit VB has in her kitchen, and posted below?)

"Disposable soft-drink and water bottles, and liquid medicine containers (like cough syrup bottles), are not polycarbonate and do not contain BPA. So, while everyone is rightly having a fit about disposable bottles for environmental reasons, it's only the rigid, refillable kind that you need to worry about for health reasons. Make it easy, and remember the numbers: Only drink from those with numbers 4 and 2 in their triangles, or if need be, 5 and 1. In our opinion, don't buy any with 3, 6 or 7 (not just for BPA reasons)."

(Oh, don't forget straws people. We consumers, [and the oil companies] can have our milkshake, and drink it too. ----

Why the Oil Industry Benefits from Bottled Water Sales

(Yum - and, oh so tasty!)





Just Plain Tacky
To my neighbors, and townsfolk in Connecticut:
How tacky can you possibly be naming a street, Wisteria Lane? Are you daydreaming, wishfully thinking, or what? Have you been watching too much TV, and entranced by Nicollette Sheridan's decolletage? What were you thinking!
Do you all need a good hard smack upside the head?
(YEP!)



A Short Lesson In Spelling
Finally, for those of you still learning how to spell, fuck is spelled F-U-C-K! (VB may be a bad speller, but she knows this one for sure.)
Even though, VB thinks we all got the message, what is LFC? (VB hopes it's not the florist down the road.)

Me Cat Manor

Or No Good Deed Goes Unpunished
(as Awesome Daughter said after hearing the following story.)

VB has been in a funk lately. Last year she tried to get help catching a few of the feral cats eating on her porch. She was basically told to go bugger off. Well, anyone who's read VB's past posts will remember The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac. He showed up late last summer, and was still here when VB returned in late January after a three month absence.

(Below): (Center) The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac, lounging under the Palm Tree, with (L) Fuzzy Wuzzy and (R) Little Boy. This is one day of peacefulness around the yard.


As time went on, old Blue Eyes became somewhat of a menace. He was even meaner than The Bad Ass Cat. He sprayed on the food, and right into the water bowl. He fought with practically every other cat that came to feed, injuring some. He started sleeping on the grill, and terrified the younger cats, like Little Boy, who would shudder when Blue Eyes approached the porch.

The porch scene itself was getting out of hand. On a daily basis we could hear The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac howl at other cats, then screeching, then another attack. It certainly made great entertainment for Lotus, the pup, as she would scramble to go watch the fight through the dining room windows.

The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac and The Bad Ass Cat, plus a few others are all gold and white. It seemed as if VB's all night diner was turning into a gangland territorial spat, between the gold / white cats, and the non-gold / white cats, like these. Food was pulled inside after hours for a more peaceful sleep - nothing like being woken up at 3:00 AM by caterwauling cats. Little Boy's mama, who had just given birth to a new litter a couple of weeks earlier, was seen flying across the porch as The Blue Eyed Maniac pounced on her. She limped around for about a week. He had gone after the cat from next door, which someone had de-clawed, and could obviously not protect herself. He would chase cats out of the yard, into, and across the street, through mud, and traffic if he was pissed off enough. And he usually was.

Someone familiar with the local rescue community suggested VB call a certain shelter, who had transport services and "cat catchers". They said, if we had Blue Eyes neutered he'd have a much better temperament.

(Below): The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac's favorite target, Johnny Come Lately.



So, last week the "cat catcher" showed up twice. It would've only taken one visit had he shown up almost on time. Two hours late, is a bit too late, especially with these regimented felines. On the other hand, with the maid's help, VB could at least communicate with him, as he spoke no English. The "cat catcher" said they had a place to take cats like him, where they fought to the death. VB told him and the vet, she just wanted him neutered, returned, and then we would see if that works.

Well, The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac was trapped with in a cage (Below) - much like those no kill rat traps they sell here.



Then the cat catcher, feeling kind of full of himself, decides to trap the Blue and Green Eyed Cat. VB said she was sure this was a female, since the cat was extremely docile, and loving to other cats who came onto the porch. This was a new cat, who had only been around the porch for about a week or so. This cat even got along with The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac. The "cat catcher" said he was definitely a male. Hmm? How did VB get that wrong? As if it hasn't happened before!

(Below): The Blue and Green Eyed Cat caught in a net.



(Below): The Blue and Green Eyed Cat around the block sometime in March of this year. VB thought he was dead when she first saw him. He was apparently eating from the garbage bin, but looked emaciated. He also looked like one very old cat.



(Below): The Blue and Green Eyed Cat as a kitten. This photo was taken last July. VB searched through photos, knowing she had one of him previously, thinking he was the mom with a kitten. Instead he was actually the kitten. This would make him a little over a year old now.



Later that evening as VB was making dinner, the vet called to say the "cat catcher" would be dropping off the Blue and Green Eyed Cat, but not The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac. They were just operated on a few hours earlier, and VB thought they'd at least be kept overnight. Not so.

The vet explained that he had no room for them, they were too active, and that neutering the Blue Eyed Sex Maniac did nothing to his temperament. He told VB that he would drop him off somewhere else in Maadi, where he would not bother us anymore. For several days, VB was pretty upset. Did they drop him off in a deserted area of Maadi, that's still pretty much desert? Or did the vet allow the "cat catcher" to take The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac off to a back alley cat fighting ring? Both ideas seemed pretty dreadful to VB.

Question: Does VB have the word "chump" written on her forhead? Well, the good doctor did ask if we had any more cats we'd like to have "catched." Just asking.

It's been almost a week now and it's awfully quiet. It seems that peace has settled in for awhile. VB's sure one of the other males will try to take The Blue Eyed Sex Maniac's place, but who will it be? Who will reign as the cat king of Me Cat Manor? It had been peaceful once before, but that came to a screeching halt, and it probably will again.

As for the Blue and Green Eyed Cat, he seems to be recuperating. VB's concerned about his safety, but he seemed to be an awfully agreeable cat, considering some of the characters we get here at the feeding post. Another new cat, seen below, is a very good friend of his. When she arrives (she just had kittens, so VB's sure it's a she) he jumps off the chair, they bump heads, do a dance, wrap their tales around each other, rub up against each other, and then eat together out of the same bowl.





It's nice to know Blue and Green Eyed cat has such a wonderful friend. Sometimes good things can happen.

Funkengroovin Wednesday Not! - I'm A Loser!

I'm a loser, haha, two times now. (1) I submitted a photo essay to the National Geographic Photo Contest, and I lost! (Sorry I don't know any monks from Nepal. Why are monks so popular anyway?) Sorry for the non- Funkengroovin Wednesday post, but (2) I had difficulties with the photos I loaded. A couple of weeks ago Blogger (not me - the Internet program) had a problem with enlarging photos. Well, it didn't end there. There were also problems with the photos that were uploaded during that time period. You know like the "Would You Buy This Truck" post. Since I had gone through my links, and then the photos, which weren't working late last night, I just gave up. Give Vagabondblogger a break - It's Christmas, or Eid, or Hanukkah, for God's sake! The holidays warrant a drippy story, and this is just one of millions and billions. I will reload the photos (and the truck ones too) in a day or two, and post a belated Funkengroovin post. Ergo, I am posting my pathetic, sappy, embarrassingly lame photo submission for a diversion.

So, here it is "The Story" I submitted to National Geographic: (As usual click on the photos for a larger view, and descriptions are below the photos.)
______________________________________________________

While at a souvenir shop in Cairo, Egypt, I asked to see several of the cat statuettes. The elderly shop owner said, “Misses please do not call them cats. It is disrespectful. They are Bastet! The goddess of pleasure, joy and dance.” I told him of: how I was a dog lover, how my dog had passed away in Cairo a few months earlier, and how I was getting a new puppy to bring back with me. He retorted, “please, please don’t get a new dog. Loosing something so important in your life leaves a great hole in your heart. If you bring another puppy here, you will loose it too, and you will have another hole.”

Two weeks before my dog passed away, a young feral cat showed up on the porch ("The Golden Boy"), and much like the tale of The Three Bears, stole my chair. He had been hanging around the apartment building, near the garbage can, but eventually found my private little niche on the side porch. As I was about to clean out the dog food bin, I thought, instead of throwing it out, the young cat might appreciate it. At first I dropped handfuls on the porch, then eventually fed him from plastic bowls, calling him to the front porch with a "psst." Our secret relationship lasted about two weeks. The message had gone out to the neighborhood ferals, "new feeding station now open for business." One thing led to another, and as I got to know him, I learned more about the feral cats in my neighborhood, of their personalities, and how they survive in Cairo. It might be just another feeding hole to them, but for me, it has been a healing experience.

King of the Porch
The Golden Boy in all his glory, sleeping on my chair. A non-aggressive cat, flight before fight type, he survives by evasion.


Girlfriend
Golden Boy’s pregnant girlfriend started to show up for feedings too, always bumping heads when they met. Still a small kitten herself, with all the markings of a roughed up street cat, she’s the only cat who rubbed up against me, and allowed me to pet her. Patient and kind, until her pregnancy progressed, she has now disappeared.


The Bad Ass Cat
This one followed Girlfriend over then fence, into the yard. Afraid of nothing he seemed to have been around, seen it all, and is quite the whiner, albeit usually ignored by the others. He is not posing for me, but focusing on the cat lying underneath the car directly behind me.


Cat Fight
Immediately before the joust, a lot of caterwauling takes place. This garbage bin bully, who has become quite a nuisance, goes after every cat he encounters, and now confronts Bad Ass Cat. Pickings during Ramadan are slim during the day, and that's when this extremely aggressive cat arrived. Fighting is one danger, but the municipality sanctions the use of poisoned food, and shooting strays. A practice considered inhumane to The West, but common elsewhere in the world, it has become a local controversy, as of late.


Momma
Once the smell of food gets around, other cats start visiting too, including nursing moms. Some people provide food for the cats, but they are mostly expats, who come and go throughout a cat's lifetime. This mom hides out at a villa that had been a well-known source of food. That expat family has now moved on and the new family has chosen not to feed them.


Comfort
Once trained, the kittens are literally abandoned, aggressively rejected, and Momma has actually resorted to violence as the young grey, whimpering, kitten approached her. This may be the feral cats' version of tough love. Unwanted, they care for each other. Here the bigger male, spoons with his sickly smaller sister, who cries constantly for her mother.

Blue Eyed Sex Maniac
When Mom goes into heat, all sorts of males show up (as if the food isn't enough of an invite.) Obviously not afraid of a human hiss, he stares, demanding lunch.

Startled
Eventually more pregnant cats come by, but are shocked when I show up to size up the feeding situation, sometimes inadvertently scaring them away. This one was quite startled.

Deep Thoughts
A far away gaze - perhaps wondering where he hid that feather he stole from me? A cat’s life in Cairo is a hard one. The Golden Boy has a moment of deep concentration, and I wonder what thoughts go through his head. He often sits by the screened doors, looking in (as if, with a bit of desire) and watches me, like we humans watch animals in a cage. He will enter the house, but only to investigate, and then scampers away.


The Come On:
The Golden Boy, at ease on the porch, has since become a helpful caretaker to the two abandoned kittens. Here he lays back, in his “come on, let’s play” pose. Although I realize we have a connection, we will never be able to live together. He will always be a feral-wild and independent, never a pet. But he has opened a new door for me, one of respect for cats, and most importantly, he is the bastet who helped close the hole in my heart.

As of this post, according to The Boss Man, The Golden Boy has not been seen for days. The two kittens are still around, but I will know more when I actually get back to Cairo in late January.

More information on Egypt's policy towards stray cats and dogs, as well as their slaughterhouse procedures from SPARE - Society of Protecting Animal Rights in Egypt:
Amina Abaza's Article in The Adelaide Advertiser Newspaper

The world may not be so wonderful right now, but we can always wish, dream, and hope.


What a Wonderful World - Louis Armstrong

Memo To NBC

Ever since Vagabondblogger was one of the top ten finalists for the Project Runway Fan Blog last season, she kept receiving surveys from NBC about what she watches on TV. Since she's no longer in the States, she doesn't really watch TV like most American viewers. She downloads shows (sometimes whole seasons - not available in Cairo,) from iTunes, and watches them on TV via her Apple TV.

Since NBC sends Vagabondblogger e-mails regularly asking her opinion about their inconsistent programming, here's a question they don't want to ask:

"Vagabondblogger, how do you feel about our decision to try to squeeze you dry when you download our shows?"

Gordon Ramsay couldn't have said it better when he found out the nature of the restaurant atmosphere in his newest show, Kitchen Nightmares. Vagabondblogger feels the same way regarding NBC 's behavior in it's contract dispute with ("bringing it to the people") Apple.

"Fuck me!"

NBC and Apple got into a snit recently, when it was time for NBC to renew their contract with Apple. Some reports stated that NBC wanted to charge $4.99 per episode (an episode currently costs $1.99), which is outrageous, when you consider buying a full season, vs. buying the DVD set. Think about it. That's $49.00 for ten shows - no way NBC. NBC, Apple play game of brinkmanship

NBC never said that it would pull out of iTunes, but only that it was dissatisfied with the financial terms Apple offered. Then Apple raised the stakes by announcing it would not offer NBC's shows for the upcoming TV season and alleged that NBC Universal was asking for a price hike that would have required Apple to raise retail prices from $1.99 to $4.99.

When it comes to public relations battles, Apple is a devastating counter-puncher. The revelation about NBC Universal's demands is almost certain to rally consumers around Apple. To them, it appears that Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal's CEO, wants to stick his hands deeper into their pockets and Steve Jobs is protecting them.

Another article stated that Apple wanted to lower the price for all shows to .99, (yes folks, that's that's 99 cents per episode). Apple's reasoning being that making each episode cheaper would allow viewers to download more shows, thus exposing them to more options, and more sales for NBC.

NBC didn't buy it, and decided not to renew the contract, which would go into effect in January. In turn, Apple decided not to offer any new shows from NBC. Since Vagabondblogger is addicted to a few shows on BRAVO, and we know BRAVO is affiliated with NBC, will this affect the shows offered on BRAVO, as well? Vagabondblogger believes NBC will try to stick it to us any which way they can.

As a counter punch (and a pretty measly one at that): NBC to Offer Downloads of Its Shows

The service, which is set to start in November after a test period in October, comes less than three weeks after NBC Universal said it was pulling its programs out of the highly successful iTunes service of Apple Inc. That partnership fell apart because of a dispute over Apple’s iTunes pricing policies and what NBC executives said were concerns about lack of piracy protection.

But the files, which would be downloaded overnight to home computers, would contain commercials that viewers would not be able to skip through. And the file would not be transferable to a disk or to another computer.

The files would degrade after the seven-day period and be unwatchable. “Kind of like ‘Mission: Impossible,’ only I don’t think there would be any explosion and smoke,” Mr. Gaspin said.

The programs will initially be downloadable only to PCs with the Windows operating system, but NBC said it planned to make the service available to Mac computers and iPods later.

In a second phase of the NBC rollout, customers would pay a fee for downloads of episodes that they would then own, and the files would be transferable to other devices. NBC hopes to offer this service by mid-2008, depending on how quickly the company can put in place the secure software necessary to allow payment by credit card.

Mr. Crotty said NBC had come across to consumers as “highly greedy” in its dispute with Apple. Apple reported that NBC was insisting it raise the price of some downloads on NBC shows to $4.99 from the $1.99 iTunes charges for all programs.

For anyone overseas, who has tried to download free TV shows offered on ABC, or other channels, it's a no go. They're only offered to people located in the U.S.A. Here's what the NBC message says: "We're sorry, but the clip you selected isn't available from your location."

A sampling of the current iTunes charges for shows Vagabondblogger has downloaded compared to the prices for the full DVD set (no, Vagabondblogger has not downloaded all episodes of all these shows. She has downloaded, in some instances, only the episodes she missed. This is just an example):

NBC:
30 Rock Season of 21 episodes cost $34.99 - Retail $49.98, available at Amazon for $32.49

The Black Donnellys Season of 13 episodes cost $23.99 - Retail $49.98, available at Amazon for $34.99

FOX:
House, Season 3, 24 episodes, $42.99 - Retail List price $52.98, available at Amazon for $37.99

VH1:
Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School 12 episodes $16.99 - (not available on DVD)
I Love New York Season 1, $22.99 for 12 episodes - Retail list Price of $38.99, at Amazon for $29.19
Surreal Life: Fame Games, $14.99 for 10 episodes - (not available on DVD)

BRAVO:
Project Runway, Season 3: 15 episodes for $22.99 - (Not available on DVD yet)

Here comes FOX, with an offer of their own: Fox to Offer Season Premieres on iTunes

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The season premieres of seven Fox Broadcasting shows will be offered on Apple Inc.'s iTunes store for free in the latest example of TV networks using the Web to create interest in their shows.

The shows will be available for one week.

Who's smarter here - NBC or FOX?

Vagabondblogger took up the offer from FOX, and downloaded Kitchen Nightmares staring Gordon Ramsay the all time mean ass chef, who says after tasting a tasteless dish, and hearing a fight in the kitchen, "fuck me." Who doesn't enjoy watching Gordon rough up a few insecure people? Or a few snots? Or just anyone who gets in his way? Vagabondblogger would like to see Gordon and Anthony Bourdain go at it for an all time major "Who's the cockiest chef smack-down!" Who knows, maybe it would end up being a love fest?


From the New York Times, To Perk Up a Restaurant, Add Luster Where Lacking:

The thrill of watching Mr. Ramsay is in witnessing someone so at peace with his own arrogance. Adapted from a series he starred in for British television, “Kitchen Nightmares” has Mr. Ramsay trying to turn around nondescript restaurants in about a week by imparting his high standards and dictatorial imperatives.

The subtext of “Kitchen Nightmares” is that ordinary middle-class business owners need brash and brilliant moguls to save them from a sad reliance on their own mediocrity. It is an ugly message that Mr. Ramsay makes undeniably hypnotic.

Lastly NBC, we get The Today Show here in Cairo (Egypt,) "live" on the Orbit News Channel. Here's some more of Vagabondblogger's opinion (cover your ears): How did the power of personality take over the main focus of presenting the news?
1) Ann (I like to pose in my new clothes) Curry: she's one of the most pathetic, smarmy, sorry excuses for a news woman Vagabondblogger has ever seen. When interviewing people, the interviewer asks the questions, while the interviewee answers them. Why don't you give Ann her own show called, "An Interview With Myself, " then you can get rid of all the informative guests who can't get a word in edgewise, and Ann can do all the posing she wants, to boot!
2) Dr. Nancy (I'm so smug) Schneiderman aka let me lecture America about how to live their lives, and yes, I sneer at behavior I disapprove of too: Nancy just looks down her nose at anything that's fun. She's a stick in the mud who has no idea what "living" is. Vagabondblogger wants to screech like her old Chevy, on a cold morning with a bad water pump when that woman is doling out her patronizing advice.
3) Last, but not least, iVillage sucks! Are you kidding? You made a show with a bunch of losers sitting around a funky amusement park, amusing themselves with what - the funky peadophiliac characters? The presenters are all so full of themselves too (who the fuck are they?) Paaleeese, do the real "village" a favor and can this one.

Oh, BTW, thanks for getting rid of Katie Couric and screwing up Vagabondblogger's life even more. - Now Vagabondblogger can't stand watching CBS News either, which was her favorite. You could have done Vagabondblogger a favor and kept Katie, so Vagabondblogger could just avoid one show (The Today Show) instead of two (The Today Show and CBS Nightly News.)

Here's an article from the New York Times on how TV shows are becoming so popular they have turned into defining samples of a person's tastes, much like music used to be.
You Are What You Watch

Television used to be dismissed by elitists as the idiot box, a sea of mediocrity that drowns thought and intelligent debate. Now people who ignore its pools and eddies of excellence do so at their own peril.

Apparently, that makes Vagabondblogger a Top Chef in Kitchen Nightmares with a bunch of Mad Men.

On another note, thanks to the operators of Orbit (the Saudis?) for taking Fashion TV off for Ramadan. Every time Vagabondblogger sees this channel, she just wants to scratch her own eyes out!

What is the purpose of fashion TV, anyway?

US Presidential Elections - Judith Giuliani

If you like Michael Vick....then you'll Loooove Judith Giuliani!

If you're a dog (or any pet) owner like I am (actually was, and will be again) sit down, because, this might upset you. Everyone knows (or at least figures) that Judi Giuliani is a "gold digger," but puppy killer?

For the complete story of Judith Giuliani go to Vanity Fair:

"If you had told me back when we were in high school that one day Judi would move to New York and marry a presidential candidate, I wouldn't have been in the least surprised," says Gemma Matteo, a former classmate of Judi's, now a special-education teacher in Hazleton. In an era of blue jeans and rebellion, Judi was a fresh-faced, meticulously groomed enigma—quiet, self-possessed, biding her time. "Very prim and proper, not a hair out of place," according to Holly Ciotola, another former classmate. "She was always in a dark blazer, white collared shirt, and dark skirt."

In 1974 she graduated from St. Luke's School of Nursing, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As a registered nurse, young Judi spent only a few months at Sacred Heart Hospital, in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She would never care for patients after that. She had other plans. At 19 she married Jeffrey Ross, a U.S. Surgical salesman six years her senior.

In short order both Rosses were working in Charlotte, North Carolina, for U.S. Surgical (now part of Tyco Healthcare), which eventually grew into a billion-dollar enterprise marketing surgical staplers. Judi was excellent at her work, and earned $40,000 a year by the late 70s. But problems arose when animal-rights groups began investigating the way the company sold its products—problems recently pointed out by the New York press. U.S. Surgical used dogs in demonstrations to doctors and hospitals as part of its marketing plan.

"Every salesperson at U.S. Surgical was trained for six weeks with dogs at Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, and that was really brutal," explains a former employee. "They spent days and days with dogs, taking out the spleen or stomach or the lobe of a lung. Then if the dog started moaning or fidgeted, whoever was closest would push more sedative into him from the syringe. It was horrible. Then the dog would be killed with potassium chloride."

After training, the salespeople marketed the staplers to doctors, and, once again, in many cases large dogs were used, as they had organs comparable in size to those possessed by humans. "After the stapling, sometimes they'd put a big clamp above and below the staple lines of the dog, and fill [the area] with lots of fluid," the ex-employee says. "It would fill up like a balloon, and the salesperson would say to the doctor, 'See—it doesn't leak!' That's how they marketed and sold the product." (Some years ago, former C.E.O. Leon Hirsch defended the company's practice of using dogs, claiming that there was no proper substitute.)

WABC radio host Ron Kuby, a lawyer and severe Giuliani critic, marvels at the campaign's sublime lack of preparation for the storm of fury that greeted the dog issue, in April. "Think of all the hacks and politicos who sit down and they say to Judi, 'O.K., we've gone through your background, husbands, etc.,'" he muses. "'Is there any other thing in your background, some crazy little thing, that might catch someone's attention?' It's at that point you should raise your hand and say, 'Oh, you mean when I was killing puppies?'"

But for some reason the campaign entered the ring gloveless. "I wouldn't dignify it with a comment" was Giuliani's reply when asked about the use of dogs.

The puppies are not amused.

Politicians, Dress Codes, and Losers #2, Plus Fashionable Fundies

SAGGIN' PANTS, CHASTITY RINGS - OUT!

CROCS-IN ( AND WITH PRESIDENTIAL APPROVAL)!
HIJAB & NIQAB - STILL DEBATABLE

The news this past week, threw me for a loop! Besides the numerous articles on saggin' pants and the niqab, what really caught my eye was this:

“Echo”: Hijab Related Problem in BP
Now, you'd think a savvy international company, one that's been around the world for ages would be a bit more tolerant, but according to Echo / Pravo:

Thus, number of information agencies informed that girl practicing Islam and wearing headscarf in accordance with her religious beliefs was dismissed from BP. Particularly, it is reported that it was Esmira Heydarova’s religious beliefs that caused her dismissal. She worked for Sangachal terminal “BP-Azerbaijan”. It is also reported that the dismissed was warned on the part of leadership to come to work without headscarf. In response, Esmira Heydarova, declared that her clothing is expression of freedom of religion that is why she can’t take off headscarf. In the end it entailed the cease of contract with E. Heydarova.

BP ignored the laws in Texas, where fifteen workers died; in Alaska they spilled more oil; they have a disabled oil rig, "Thunderhorse" in the Gulf of Mexico; and in the U.K. they tried to lie to the court so Lord Browne could hide the fact that he had an affair with a call boy, and allowed him to use his personal business computer; and now this, a blatant attack on a woman due to her dress. And that's not all:

Following information leaked out of independent sources, E. Heydarova was officially dismissed not for wearing hijab, but for some bureaucratic impediment puts on her way by the leadership of company. It is also reported that some women-workers of BP wishing to wear hijab don’t do it fearing to lose their job.

Here's the other news on Hijab, Niqab, Saggin' Pants and Chastity Rings. It looks like the out-of-touch politicians have decided to become fashionistas. Just as an Egyptian court ruled against American University of Cairo's rule against the niqab, I'm sure an American court will rule against the saggin' pants law coming out of a small town in Louisiana. As least in the States we have a myriad of legal excuses for the way we dress. As much as I would like to outlaw some of the biggest offenders, I believe in a free society. Besides, once you start outlawing one form of dress, the ball gets rolling and you can dictate what and what not to wear. Where does it stop?

Some of my personal thoughts regarding why the hijab and niqab are becoming more popular have been confirmed, at least by some of the news reports. Yes, there is a religious movement afoot, but identity seems to be a major motivating factor. Just as we Americans decided to flaunt the love of our country by flying a dozen gazillion flags off our cars after 9-11, the women of Muslim descent decided to show their heritage, as well. Someone is going to come in a scream at me for this, but I suspect in many of these cases, just as we no longer see many of those annoying flags on vehicles, this show of faith will be deemed a passing phase too. Besides whenever you tell people they can't wear a certain type of clothing, they'll revolt by doing just the opposite, and who do the hijab salesmen thank for this upsurge in the U.K.? Jack Straw - see below.

America was attacked on 9-11 and I was living in the Arabian Gulf at the time. When we returned to the States, a month later, for a visit, we were shocked by all the show of temporary patriotism. All of a sudden, everyone was a "patriot." Those of us who chose not to fly a flag off the car, or buy those magnetic "Support Your Troops" car symbols (because we suspected someone, not the troops, was making a shitload of money at the expense of the soldiers) seemed to be in the minority. This is what I suspect is going on with many women wearing the hijab or niqab, particularly after the backlash against Muslims. It's a reaction and somewhat of a natural one, but never ever-lasting. In the Sixties kids embraced Che. In solidarity with Che's ideals and the Cuban Revolution, the Venceremos Brigade started going to Cuba (illegally) to pick sugarcane, in defiance of the U.S. Kids still wear tees with Che's silhouette etched on them. But how many of these youngsters do we see signing up to go to war or even the Venceremos Brigade? How many women wearing the niqab or hijab, which is viewed by some as extremist, would blow themselves up? Or, as some Egyptians believe, prostitute themselves?

As I said before, no one has the right to tell a woman (or men) how to dress, whether it be in a skimpy outfit at Hooters (or practically nude at the Bada Bing) or in a niqab, hijab, or a burkha, if it's her choice. As for the saggin' pants, I'm not a fan. I have to say it just spells out S-L-O-P-P-Y to me, but read on, as it might spell out something else to others. It's a prison fashion. Do you really want to be a prisoner, advertising the fact that you're "available"?

Here's the other articles, follow the links for the full dose of news worthy comments. I've included only quotes that caught my attention and to summarize the whole article for the lazy readers out there. One item that surprised me was how a woman wearing the niqab in Egypt is viewed as a prostitute, but that would jell with the comments from young non-veiling women in the book, Muhajababes. (Again- see below.)



In Vogue, Hijab Style

The recent debate over a Muslim student banned from wearing a face veil at the American University in Cairo highlighted the East-West chasm over the much-debated Muslim attire.

The right to don a hijab, the Muslim head scarf, has created a storm in European countries such as France and Great Britain, pitting Muslims and non-Muslim against each other in the name of freedom.

In Gaza, the hijab has even become an issue of life and death. Palestinian female journalists have been threatened with murder if they continued to display a bare head.

But a hijab is not only a sign of religious fervency, and contrary to Western perception, not all religious Muslim women are dressed uniformly.

A more learned Muslim will point out the subtle differences between the abaya, the jilbab, the galabiyya and the chador; or between a regular hijab, a patterned one, a burka and a niqab.

Veil sales surge post Straw comments

Jack Straw's controversial request for Muslim women to remove their veils has led to an upsurge in sales of the religious garment, according to one of Britain's most senior Muslims.

And his views appear to be reflected in a dramatic upturn in sales.

Research for More 4 News and Channel 4 News Online has shown that there's been a dramatic rise in the number of hijabs being worn - and for the first time there are now more than a million hijabs distributed in Britain every year.

In an interview Dr Bari said: "The veil was never an issue in the Muslim community, only a minority wear it. But when he made those comments, and certain elements of the media picked it up, it turned into a storm.

"What's happening now is that young girls are feeling

that they have to wear it: it's a sort of rebellion, a form of protest or statement.

Yunis Sidat, manager of the Islamic Establishment shop in Leicester, said: "We're selling more veils; it's a bit like when the Koran sold out after 9/11.

"I think they are selling out because people are more confident about wearing them - and there is more awareness in the general public about why people wear them.

"I can't say exactly how many more we are selling - but there has been a definite impact on sales from Jack Straw's comments."



Muslims’ Veils Test Limits of Britain’s Tolerance

Some who wear the niqab, particularly younger women who have taken it up recently, concede that it is a frontal expression of Islamic identity, which they have embraced since Sept. 11, as a form of rebellion against the policies of the Blair government in Iraq, and at home.

LONDON, June 16 — Increasingly, Muslim women in Britain take their children to school and run errands covered head to toe in flowing black gowns that allow only a slit for their eyes. On a Sunday afternoon in Hyde Park, groups of black-clad Muslim women relaxed on the green baize lawn among the in-line skaters and badminton players.

Their appearance, like little else, has unnerved other Britons, testing the limits of tolerance here and fueling the debate over the role of Muslims in British life.

Many veiled women say they are targets of abuse. Meanwhile, there are growing efforts to place legal curbs on the full-face Muslim veil, known as the niqab.

There have been numerous examples in the past year. A lawyer dressed in a niqab was told by an immigration judge that she could not represent a client because, he said, he could not hear her. A teacher wearing a niqab was dismissed from her school. A student who was barred from wearing a niqab took her case to the courts, and lost. In reaction, the British educational authorities are proposing a ban on the niqab in schools altogether.

A leading Labor Party politician, Jack Straw, scolded women last year for coming to see him in his district office in the niqab. Prime Minister Tony Blair has called the niqab a “mark of separation.”

Some who wear the niqab, particularly younger women who have taken it up recently, concede that it is a frontal expression of Islamic identity, which they have embraced since Sept. 11, 2001, as a form of rebellion against the policies of the Blair government in Iraq, and at home.

“For me it is not just a piece of clothing, it’s an act of faith, it’s solidarity,” said a 24-year-old program scheduler at a broadcasting company in London, who would allow only her last name, al-Shaikh, to be printed, saying she wanted to protect her privacy. “9/11 was a wake-up call for young Muslims,” she said.

Other Muslims find the practice objectionable, a step backward for a group that is under pressure after the terrorist attack on London’s transit system in July 2005.

“After the July 7 attacks, this is not the time to be antagonizing Britain by presenting Muslims as something sinister,” said Imran Ahmad, the author of “Unimagined,” an autobiography about growing up Muslim in Britain, and the leader of British Muslims for Secular Democracy. “The veil is so steeped in subjugation, I find it so offensive someone would want to create such barriers. It’s retrograde.”

Many more Muslim women wear the head scarf, called the hijab, covering all or some of their hair. Unlike in France, Turkey and Tunisia, where students in state schools and civil servants are banned from covering their hair, in Britain, Muslim women can wear the head scarf, and indeed the niqab, almost anywhere, for now.

But that tolerance is slowly eroding. Even some who wear the niqab, like Faatema Mayata, a 24-year-old psychology and religious studies teacher, agreed there were limits.

“How can you teach when you are covering your face?” she said, sitting with a cup of tea in her living room in Blackburn, a northern English town, her niqab tucked away because she was within the confines of her home.

She has worn the niqab since she was 12, when she was sent by her parents to an all-girl boarding school. The niqab was not, as many Britons seemed to think, a sign of extremism, she said.

She condemned Britain’s involvement in Iraq, and she described the departure of Mr. Blair at the end of this month as “good riddance of bad rubbish.” But, she added, “there are many Muslims like this sitting at home having tea, and not taking any interest in jihad.”

The niqab, to her, is about identity. “If I dressed in a Western way I could be a Hindu, I could be anything,” she said. “This way I feel comfortable in my identity as a Muslim woman.”

No one else in her family wears the niqab. Her husband, Ibrahim Boodi, a social worker, was indifferent, she said. “If I took it off today, he wouldn’t care.”

Some British commentators have complained that mosques encourage women to wear the niqab, a practice they have said should be stopped.

One woman, Sajida Khaton, 24, interviewed as she sat discreetly in a Pizza Hut, said she did not wear the veil on the subway, a precaution her husband encourages for safety reasons. Sometimes, she said, she gets a kick out of the mocking.

“ ‘All right gorgeous,’ ” she said she had heard men say as she walked along the street. “I feel empowered,” she said. “They’d like to see, and they can’t.”

She often comes to the neighborhood restaurant along busy Whitechapel Road in East London for a slice or two, a habit, she said, that shows that even veiled women are well integrated into Britain’s daily life.

“I’m in Pizza Hut with my son,” said Ms. Khaton, nodding at her 4-year-old and speaking in a soft East London accent that bore no hint of her Bangladeshi heritage. “I was born here, I’ve never been to Bangladesh. I certainly don’t feel Bangladeshi. So when they say, ‘Go back home,’ where should I go?”

Behind the Veil

According to Newsweek:

An Egyptian court has ruled that universities can't bar Islamic face-coverings. But that's unlikely to stop the headdress attracting unwelcome attention on the streets of Cairo.

A special chamber of the court ruled on June 9 that the American University in Cairo (AUC) could not bar a female scholar who wears the niqab from using university facilities.

Egypt’s battle against the niqab has a long history. Authorities originally banned students from wearing it to school in 1994, saying that it violated security standards. Dozens of pupils were suspended in the decade that followed. In nearly all cases however, the court overturned the decision and allowed the girls to return to class...However, the American University stayed firm, refusing to permit even the niqab-wearing mothers of graduates to attend the commencement ceremony, according to some students.

Certainly, the concerns run the gamut from women using the face veil to cheat in exams—be it by stashing away crib sheets or trading places with other students—to young men using it as a disguise to sneak into the girls’ dormitory. Then there are the political concerns; across the region, the increasing influence of Islamic parties poses a viable threat to the old, Western- friendly boys’ club of Arab rulers.

Certainly, the decision is a sign of the times. Just 30 years ago, young women attended Cairo University wearing miniskirts and the latest Paris fashions. They strolled along the beaches of Alexandria in skimpy swimsuits. The hijab was often perceived as a social-status indicator; women of the upper and middle classes rarely veiled at a young age and those who did usually observed more fashionable interpretations of the religious head-covering.

All of that changed along with the politics of the region. The Iranian Islamic revolution caused a religious shakeup that leaked into the Arab countries to its west. Government crackdowns on Islamic parties grew fierce as the country’s poor turned more to groups like the Muslim Brotherhood for support. Recently, the war in Iraq set off a tidal wave of anti-Western sentiment across the region, causing millions to embrace their own traditions and beliefs more proudly than ever before.

Ironically, despite the conservative trend that has engulfed the nation, the face veil is viewed by many Muslims as an “un-Egyptian” tradition and in many places, the practice is shunned. In fact, one of the stereotypes that exist among some communities is an association between the niqab and prostitution. “Prostitution is certainly one of the stereotypes for both hijab and niqab—as though these women hide behind it,” says Pakinam Amer, a Cairo-based journalist. “However, many also associate it with extremism, as well as terrorism, even here in Egypt.”

Despite the obstacles and harassment, any casual observer on Egyptian streets can see that the number of women wear the niqab is growing. Nor does it seem to be confined to specific social classes or ages. Some women insist that it is nothing more than an “outfit.”

Court ruling favouring niqab stokes controversy

The court, however, obliged the student to lift the veil to have her identity checked by female or male security personnel on entering the AUC compound.

Veiled anchor on Egyptian local TV breaks the stereotype

CAIRO: Hala El-Malky, a presenter on Channel Five, will be the first veiled anchor to appear on a local Egyptian television station.

El-Malky was not allowed to appear on TV after she donned the Islamic headscarf. This led her to file a lawsuit against the station, which she won.

Regardless of whether we agree or disagree on the veil issue on principle, we all have to accept and respect the individual's right to decide her style of clothes, Gamal Eid, executive director for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, told The Daily Star Egypt.

"But we also have to accept unveiled women and not treat them with less respect than veiled ones," Eid added.

The style of dress of Egyptian women has been the subject of widespread debate as last year.

Last January, Minister of Religious Endowments Hamdy Zaqzuq expelled an employee from a meeting for refusing to remove her niqab (the full face cover).

Farouk Hosni, Minister of Culture, set off a firestorm last November when he criticized the veil and those who choose to wear it.

This trend of women covering after marriage has long been adopted in Egyptian society. Up till the last ten years, the veil was only adopted by old married women, and it was hard to find young veiled Egyptians.

However, recently the situation changed.

Over the past decade, Amr Khaled, a famous Egyptian televangelist, managed to gather many youngsters to his lectures and speeches in Cairo's most popular mosques in elite areas like Mohandiseen and Sixth of October City.

Khaled's speeches focused on the veil and as a result, lots of Egyptian girls adopted it.

British High Court Wrestles With Symbol of Premarital Purity

A 16-year-old evangelical Christian protested that her school has refused to allow her to wear a so-called purity ring, symbolizing a commitment to premarital chastity.

Hijabs and Muhajababes

Just as there is a division within Islam between Sunni’s and Shites, a fashion divide has splintered Muslim women into three factions. On one side are those Muslim women who are true believers. Around the world -- in hijab hotspots -- these traditionalists are fighting for their right to wear head scarves as expressions of their religious piety. Caught in the middle -- sometimes in the crossfire -- are Muslim women who live in countries with issues on what constitutes national identity. On the opposite end of the spectrum are a new generation of young Muslim women known as “Muhajababes,” rebels who cover up to be cool, but hide their true selves behind their veils.

Their stories may surprise you.

“Take sex before marriage,” said one candid Muhajababe. “I know it is haram (forbidden by Islam) but the veiled girls . . . they are all at it.”

School apologizes for demanding Muslim girl remove headscarf

Thirteen-year-old Issra Omer told her parents she was too embarrassed to show up for summer school classes at Seaside High School in Monterey County on Wednesday, the day after a monitor demanded she remove her hijab (hee-JAWB) to conform to the district's no-hat policy.

Issra explained that her scarf is worn for religious reasons, but she says the school employee still yelled at her.

In Louisiana town, wearing low-rider pants may cost you

Supporters say the new ordinance aims to curb indecent behavior while opponents say it infringes on freedom of personal expression.

DELCAMBRE, La. - Buying jeans three sizes too big, young men across America, many of them black, are taunting both the laws of gravity and fashion by wearing their pants below their behinds.

But if they won't heed the age-old mother's lament to "pull your pants up," will judges have to step in to enforce a general belt-tightening?

As states, cities, and activists across the country either outlaw or hold belt rallies to draw attention to the trend of "saggin'," Delcambre, La. (pop. 1,700) last week took the boldest step yet. Getting caught with one's pants too far down could now cost $500 in fines – or six months in jail – at least on this side of Bayou Carlin.

"It's just unbelievable what they do with their pants," says Carol Broussard, the town's mayor. "What's next? Are they going to take their pants off completely?"

To be sure, it's not the first time middle America has kvetched – and even passed laws – about fashions from bell-bottoms to G-strings.

"This isn't so much about comfort or carelessness or letting something fall where it naturally falls, it's a specific look and a statement which some people have to work hard to affect, sometimes seeming to defy gravitational laws," says Robert Thompson, a pop-culture expert at Syracuse University in New York. "It represents a certain attitude and style that people are very nervous about."

Taking cues from prison culture, where belts are banned, the trend has been around for several years, moving from urban hip-hop centers like Atlanta and New York out into the boonies, and emulated not just by blacks, but Anglos, Mexicans, and Vietnamese. Some kids say it's more for comfort than a statement, even though some take on a peculiar swinging gait to create enough thigh pressure to hold on. Others just hold them up.

An informal poll in the Lafayette Advertiser newspaper last week showed 79 percent of residents support the town's ordinance. Jet Magazine, known for black style, carried an article in May that was critical of sagging.

Moreover, civic organizers in Atlanta, Detroit, Nashville, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., are planning antisagging rallies, says Pastor Dianne Robinson of Jacksonville, Fla., who last week handed out 78 donated belts at a "belt rally." "This sagging of the pants is to me a defiant act, and it has all kinds of implications," says Ms. Robinson, who is black. "If you can't get up in the morning and pull your pants up, that says a lot about you, even if I don't know anything about you."

The chief legal issue, experts say, is whether wearing one's pants too low is indecent, especially if all that's showing is heavily branded underwear. "This is an effort to legislate taste and morality as opposed to any legitimate case that this is indecent exposure," argues Mr. Thompson.

Here in Delcambre, where life revolves around the church and the bayou, sponsors of the antisagging law acknowledge potential legal tangles. "We don't know if we can enforce it, but we're going to try," says Mr. Broussard.

Ultimately, residents say it might be hard to catch them in the act. "When they see the cops coming, they're just going to pull their pants up," says Mr. George.

Florida Senator Battles Sagging Fashion

Democratic Senator Gary Siplin Wants To Ban Low Riding Pants

In what may be the biggest waste of a state legislature's time since Texas congressman Edmund Kuempel fought to get guns in the hands of blind people, Orlando Senator Gary Siplin has finally dropped his "pull up your pants bill" but not before lecturing members of the gallery on the evils of low-riding trousers.

Under Siplin's proposed amendment, which he has proposed unsuccessfully several times now, students caught wearing their pants below the waistline, or with underwear peaking out, would be punished. First time offenders get a warning, "followed by a three day suspension for a second offense and a ten day suspension for a 3rd violation." If you think that's extreme, Siplin originally proposed jail time as a punishment though that disappeared, possibly because of cries of hypocrisy. You see, the state senator "is a convicted felon, who skipped jail time in favor of parole." Perhaps this is how he knew that "[w]hen a prisoner wears his pants below the waist he's indicating that he's available for the night," as he told the crowd of sixth graders.

Sagging Pants: Hip Hop Trend or Prison Trend?

...he turns around and the outfit and style go down the drain. I look down to see this boy/man's pants hanging under or in the middle of his butt. He pulls his pants up repeatedly because they start to drift down as he walks, and he's perfected that slow dip walk so they don't fall down altogether...Suddenly he's not so attractive to me and I walk away with a vicious eye roll.

But there is an even more obvious reason why pants are sagging in prison. If the pants are below a man's bottom, it is to introduce to other men that he is homosexual. As Eazy E once said about women in skirts, "For easy access, baby."

But when did wearing baggy pants have to be so exaggerated? Can't they just be loose fitting but still on the waist? How is it attractive for a woman to see some man's pants sagging so far down under his butt that it looks like there's a private party going on around in his knees?

This trend increased when new citizens came out of prison and were so used to wearing their pants this way that they continued on. You know America loves a bad guy; we can see that in movies and music everyday. So, many young boys and men emulated this seemingly hardcore status...Now how is it that the actual prisoners who were used to wearing their clothes this way are now wearing suits but the boys and men who'd never make it out of jail and would cry at the thought of going are so hell bent on representing this crew? Do women a favor, guys. Pull your pants up. Sometimes your outward appearance can represent something positive or tell a lot about you, such as the attractive man I spoke of in the first paragraph, but other times it can represent something that'll turn women away regardless of how attractive you may be. However, it might turn more men to you, specifically the ones that think they can get in your pants easy, literally. If that is your preference, by no means do I have the right to judge. But if it's not, you're sending out the wrong signals to women.

Louisiana Mayor Bans Sagging Pants


Not every one of our black sons is lost


Fight 'ghetto' as a mindset, author urges

Ghetto is no longer a place, says author Cora Daniels - it's a mindset. And it has traveled far beyond sagging pants on urban street corners, says the 35-year-old black New Yorker, who visited Cleveland this week to promote her new book, "Ghettonation: A Journey into the Land of Bling and the Home of the Shameless." (Doubleday, $23.95).

What is ghetto? Daniels defines it as a mindset that embraces the worst behavior instead of the best, a get-rich-or- die-trying mentality that can't fathom long-term goals and prefers immediate rewards. Her book is peppered with instances of how she, a Yale-educated writer who grew up in a Manhattan tenement, has had plenty of her own ghetto moments: She buys bootleg DVDs, for example, and has sneaked into movies at the cineplex.

Daniels, a former writer for Fortune magazine who said she felt obligated to follow the money, points out that corporations earn big profits from "ghetto" products like the toy company that markets a miniature pole-dancing kit for kids. "The most devastating part about ghetto is that it sells," she writes.

Corporate America is only doing what's natural, she said. "They're there to make money. They're not destroying their own back yard, they're exploiting someone else's." She finds it troublesome that blacks are willing consumers of the music, books and movies that depict them negatively. "We don't have to make it so easy" for corporations to make money degrading blacks, she said.

Her views sparked an introspective discussion Thursday during a book signing at Deuteronomy 8:3 Café in University Circle. One attendee said many people fear correcting the behavior of young people. "It's time for us to stand up. We are the grown- ups," a Cleveland teacher responded. "You can't say, 'I'm above it,' you've got to be in it."

Bakari Kitwana of Westlake, a nationally known hip-hop expert who attended the Friday luncheon, felt the book didn't accomplish much besides point a finger at poor people. "We continue to let the society off the hook," he said. "A much more powerful thing to do would be to challenge the industry. Instead of challenging the powerful, we're challenging the powerless."

Nixing name brands for better grades

There are a couple tricks to sagging your pants.

First, you have walk with your legs spread apart, as if on a horse. Your oversized jeans can’t fall all the way down. And when a teacher tells you to pull them up, go ahead and pull them up. You can just drop them again when you’re in the next hallway.

Cuevas keeps a few pairs of suspenders in his office, for the main offenders, but teachers are tired of dealing with it. It’s something he notices in his Hispanic students, and they do it to fit in, because they saw someone else doing it.

Hear Ye', Hear Ye' - For all those liberals wearing Crocs: Crocs Chairman hosted a fundraiser for the Virginia Republicans!

By Executive Order, Crocs Aren't Chic

Crocs have been given the presidential seal of approval but this is not necessarily a good thing.

George W. Bush was photographed recently in a pair of black Crocs -- Cayman style, $29.99 -- as he was heading out from the White House to ride his bike. He wore the clunky resin clogs -- which have ventilation holes and a heel strap -- with a pair of black shorts, a white camp shirt, a baseball cap with the image of an unidentified Scottish terrier and black bike socks imprinted with the presidential seal. He had the backstraps of his Crocs flipped forward so they rested on the top of the shoes -- turning them into slides. This subtle gesture -- coupled with the subdued color -- actually made the exceedingly unattractive shoes look tolerable.

Could they have been in a goodie bag at the May fundraiser for the Virginia Republican Party, which, according to the Associated Press, Crocs Chairman Rick Sharp hosted and Bush attended?

Crocs were created in 2002 and roared to ubiquity during the summer of 2006, just after the company went public. The company now manufactures about 4 million pairs of Crocs a month and last year had revenue of $354 million, says Mattson. Among the most enthusiastic early adopters were people who spent the major part of their day on their feet: hairstylists and nurses, for instance. They were perfect shoes for walking the dog. Gardeners found them both comfortable and functional.

Did someone say comfortable? Because this is a culture quick to justify wearing virtually anything in the name of comfort -- pajama bottoms as pants, sneakers as business footwear, leggings in lieu of trousers, Uggs with miniskirts -- Crocs now rival flip-flops as the most annoyingly omnipresent style of summer footwear. City streets are inundated with shuffling phalanxes of men and women with bright orange, yellow and red Bozo feet.

And now cold weather may no longer offer a reprieve from Croc-mania. The company has a new line of footwear: You by Crocs. The first collection, called High Spirits, will be in stores for fall. Priced from $149 to $299, the shoes and boots will have leather and suede bodies, but their platform and wedge heels will be made of Crocs's signature resin.