NY Times Reading for the Week of 2/23

Monday:

Ok, lets not rename No Child Left Behind to something like Quality Education for All Children. Lets call it...Slow Down the Progress for All Children. Ever since this garbage came out, its done nothing but cripple the state of our generation's education. Lets face it, not everyone is on the same level academically. Lets put the smart kids with the smart kids, and the dumb kids with the dumb kids. None of this give someone a break or slow down so everyone can catch up rubbish. I say let people fight to the death for what they want, and not have to wait so someone can come along for the ride. All I'm saying is, if we want to find ourselves in a future where our economy isn't in the trash and we don't have other countries wanting to destroy our freedom, its not going to be from anyone cutting us some slack. 

On the upside...Congratulations to Slumdog Millionaire, all those Oscars you racked up almost made me forget about how many Grammies Coldplay got.

Tuesday:

I'm going to try and forget about every time I hear billions of dollars need to be added to the bailout. I'm going to worry more about saving enough of my own cash so I can buy the new Kindle, that is, if the iPhone doesn't start reading books for you anytime soon.

Wednesday:

I thought the kids from Minnesota who stand during class was an interesting story. It makes me feel substantially more lazy, but, then again, I have little concern for my laziness anyway.

Troops should be out of Iraq by mid next year. That's good news...hopefully.

Thursday:

Good to hear Uncle Jessie...err, John Stamos and some other old ER stars are going to make appearances in the final season. Too bad ER isn't Californication, or else I'd actually be watching it.

The article about U.S. guns being sold to the Mexican drug cartel caught my eye as well. This is just going to be more fuel to the machine driving towards the legalization of Marijuana. Between John McCain, when Comcast got infiltrated Tyler Durden-style during the Super Bowl, and now this- Phoenix has seen better days. I still think Larry Fitzgerald is a boss.

Suspect Shot and Killed in Police Chase

A suspected assassin was shot and killed by a New York City Police Detective. The suspect was allegedly working on behalf of a French drug kingpin.
Detective Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle, of New York City, was involved in a chase with the suspect which culminated at the steps of the 15th St. elevated railway station. The suspect was Pierre Jeantot, 36, of Nice France. Jeantot had fired several shots at Doyle from a roof top of an apartment building at 1767 West 57th Avenue. During the initial shooting, a bystander was shot and killed.
Doyle engaged in pursuit of the Jeantot, where he was forced to commandeer a civilian’s car in order to stay close to the fleeing suspect. Driving quickly through the crowded street, Doyle cause quite a scene while in persuit. Margret Johnson, Manhatten, was taking her baby for a stroll when she saw the car speeding towards her.
“I saw a burgundy car coming towards me and I just froze,” says Johnson.
The suspect then boarded an elevated train where he killed two conductors and a police patrolman.
Betty Lou, a passenger of the train, saw the suspect run through the car.
“At first I was curious as to why he was running through the train,” she says. “Then I heard gunshots and was afraid for my life.”
Jeantot was shot at the steps of the railway on 15th St. where Doyle had no choice but to use deadly force.
“Time was a factor,” says police Chief Morgan Freeman. “Detective Doyle felt clearly the suspect was able to elude him, and his last resort was to shoot the suspect. We would have rather have Jeantot brought in alive, but this is better than not bringing him in at all.”
Jeantot’s firearms, an automatic rifle found on the roof of the apartment building, and a .44 magnum revolver found on the train, were both recovered as evidence.
Jeantot was allegedly working on behalf of a French drug kingpin who Doyle and his partner had been investigating. Jeantot was suspected to be associated with a crime syndicate that had been planning a major heroin shipment from France to New York City. Two other men suspected to be involved are being investigated at this time.

NY Times Reading for the Week of 2/16

Monday...

I'm sick of hearing Barry Bonds' name in the papers, on ESPN, or even through word of mouth. The debate over wether or not he did steroids, or if he lied about it under oath, is getting pretty sour. I say we just put those years where EVERYONE in Baseball was doing steroids behind us, and start testing every team 2 or 3 times a year from here on out. We all know they weren't using tic tacs so lets get over it already. 

 

LG signed up with Microsoft to use their operating system on their phones...terrible idea. Lets get this straight. Bill Gates<>

Oh yeah, more trouble in the Middle east...Obama better find some money to put into diplomacy overseas. I'm hoping the bailout isn't going to be a waste, but we still need to build strong foreign relationships to get a hold of the market share across the world. Let's make some change to put a little change in our pockets.

Tuesday...

What is this? The G.O.P is starting to support Obama? Looks like the Republicans are starting to realize the fate of the nation doesn't lie in the hands of an oil crusade, some Evangelical Jesus Freak, or a shoot first- ask questions later mindset. Or maybe the collapse of the Republican Party's credibility had something to do with it. Republicans are starting to crawl out of the Bushes and look towards are more radical approach to saving the world, and the country for that matter.

Facebook made its way into the news today. A big dispute over whether its users control their private information is a causing an uproar for those millions who religiously check their page every 10 minutes. A change in the sites policy was what started the confusion, and now every college student....err- every highschool kid, creepy 30, 40, 50-something with nothing better to do with their lives, teacher, employer, stalker...ok, anyone with an email account....is starting to worry about where the content they post online can go without their consent. You can't say no one saw this coming. When in the history of the world has something this popular not been exploited to ruin people's lives? It all started to go downhill once the site wasn't exclusive to college kids any more. I saw just stopping putting pictures of you and your friends peeing in the woods or throwing up in the corner of a room, and you can stop sweating your future boss at Fidelity having to ask you what you were up to in college. I mean...they all did the same stuff, just without the paparazzi following them like Paris Hilton.

Wednesday...

The Yankees made the front page of the times. Oh wait...it was a picture from the A-Rod press conference. I watched that dog and pony show yesterday and I was sold at "I was young and stupid," or "We weren't using Tic Tacs." Give me a break. This is just one more reason while Boston is superior to New York by a landslide. Not only have we won more championships this century, but we've done it without our players sticking a needle in their ass to improve their numbers. We might not be required to roll up at Fenway in a suit and a clean haircut, but we can still get it done in the post season. Cue the duckboats ladies and gentlemen.

Afghan civilian deaths rose 40 percent in 2008. Thats funny, I thought we forgot all about Afghanistan last year. It just goes to show how insufficient the Bush administration was. On the other hand, they've got kids with AK-47s under their coats ready to unload on U.S. soldiers over there too. We need to find a way to get these people pass the peace pipe around. Hopefully we can either scare them into it, or find a reasonable way to give them what they want...without blowing up any more buildings. Get on it Obama...better yet, let's get the people of this "great" country to rally together and make something happen.

Thursday...

The bailout is finally started to show how it can actually help the people of this country, not just get them to spend some money. Obama is using some of the money to help almost 9 million people keep their homes. Finally, this land of opportunity is giving hope to people who are about to be put on the streets. In a time where the country itself is driving its people further into debt, its high time the government took some responsibility for it, and actually did something to clean up its mess.

A Swiss bank is offering to release records to show Americans who have been using offshore accounts to evade taxes...oh no! You mean all drug dealers and corrupt corporate tycoons are actually going to have to piss money away to the government like the rest of us? What is this world coming to? 

Young Man Saves Tourist From Oncoming Train

A police cruiser was forced to ram into a tourist's Cadillac to push it off the tracks of an approaching train. The driver was unconscious while the car was stalled on the tracks.

James Laboke, a Sudanese refugee living in Old Orchard Beach, saw the car stalled on the tracks while walking to work at the Eezy Breezy around 6 a.m. According to Laboke, the man remained unconscious even after he repeatedly pounded on the window. The doors to the vehicle were locked and the engine was still running. 

Laboke then ran 100 yards to the police station and informed the authorities.

"I never thought about it. I just knew I couldn't let that man get crushed by a train," Laboke said.

Janet Paradiso, a captain of the town police force, arrived on the scene after hearing the call over the radio. After hearing the whistle of an approaching train, she rammed her cruiser into the 1987 Cadillac to push it off the tracks not more than thirty seconds before the train passed.

"I knew there was no time," says Paradiso. "I had to do something."

The man in the stranded Cadillac was Francois Truffaut, 80, of Quebec City. Truffaut has been coming to Old Orchard Beach since he was a child. 

"I don't remember a thing," Truffaut said.

The police report said Truffaut, a diabetic, may have gone into insulin shock when he reached the railroad crossing.

Truffaut was taken to the Southern Maine Medical Center after the incident. He was listed in stable condition.

After reporting the incident, Laboke arrived to work on time, without mentioning anything to his boss.

"It doesn't surprise me at all. That young man is one of my most responsible employees," says Charles Champaigne, Laboke's boss. "He's just a great kid."

NY Times Reading for the Week of 2/2

Monday: Michael Phelps getting a lot of media coverage for the picture of him smoking pot. I still don't see what the big deal is. If a guy can win all those gold medals without the help of steroids, etc.- let him do whatever he wants with his free time. I also gained a new level of distaste for reality TV- RuPaul's Drag Race...coming to a living room near you. Woof. Might stay out of the Arts section for a couple days.

Tuesday: Some talk about Obama recruiting Republicans- I can see a lot of pissed off people in the future, but maybe change for this nation is really going to be a bipartisan effort. Also hearing about billions being spent on extending broadband internet access. Could this be good for the nation? Or will it just bring another couple million accounts to Facebook and Myspace?

Wednesday: With all this trouble in Gaza and Iran launching a satellite, Obama is going to have some tests to the integrity to his Foreign policy. If I recall, Clinton was in a similar situation during the opening of his time in office (Bosia and all that). I also want to meet this guy chopping up the Ads in the subway. 

Oh yeah...please stop exploiting families who have 8 kids born at the same time. I wouldn't be too happy  having camera men following my family around like it was Lindsay Lohan- and if they were, I'd want a cut of the hundreds of thousands of dollars the first photographer gets for the People Magazine exclusive. I'd probably use the money on diapers.

Thursday: The movie industry is starting to suffer from pirated films being streamed on numerous websites. I knew the internet would destroy the world. Too many kids with a Myspace watching movies and downloading songs for free. Pretty soon our kids will be too fat to leave the house to even worry about the economy anyway- just let them shop online a rack up more credit card debt while everyone loses jobs across the country.

I guess I'll start reading the grown-up news next week...

Three Teens Flip Mustang on Mile Hill Road

On Monday evening three teens were involved in a car crash on Mile Hill Road. The car swerved off the road, hit an embankment, and flipped while speeding around a curve.

The driver, Jamie Peterson of Belmont crawled out of the car on his own, but the two female passengers remained trapped inside. When rescuers arrived on the scene, the jaws of life were used to free the passengers. After the 45 minute operation, the victims were taken to Memorial Hospital in Belmont. One of them was airlifted to Mass. General in Boston.

Josie M. Crandall, a resident of Mile Hill Road, told police she looked out her window around 9 PM and saw the Mustang headed North on the road.

“I’ve never seen a car going so fast on this road,” Crandall said. “It’s a dirt road, and it’s really easy to lose control.”

 

Tom Carroll, 17, was first to arrive on the scene. Carroll was driving behind Peterson’s white Mustang when he saw it take the corner.

 

“I thought the worst. They were flying,” he said.

 

Carroll told the police he saw at least three empty Budweiser cans on the ground. It is unknown whether the accident was due to drunk driving.

 

There was a fatal accident on the same road on December 24, 1998. Two people were killed. 

 

Who -Jamie Peterson and two young females

What -Car swerved off the road, hit an embankment, and flipped over onto roof

Where -Mile High Road, Belmont Mass

When -Monday evening- 9 pm

Why -Driving really fast- dirt road, easy to lose control, no streetlights How -speeding around a curve