Thursday, April 24, 2008

Misappropriation

Republican lawmakers in Iowa pitched a fit during this legislative session about the amount of money spent by the Department of Public Health on anti-tobacco media advertising, but comes media confirmation today that the state spent the settlement money from the tobacco companies class-action lawsuit on almost everything but.

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Iowans above a specific age will no doubt recall the 1991 mass shooting on the campus of the University of Iowa by a graduate student in physics named Gang Lu. Five people were killed and another wounded before the assailant turned the gun on himself. The story inspired first an award-winning essay written by U of I writer Jo Ann Beard published in The New Yorker in 1997, and now a motion picture called "Dark Matter" in theaters this spring starring Meryl Streep.

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The two greatest ballplayers in the history of Columbia, active-playing shortstops Edgar Renteria and Orlando Cabrera, are engaged in an unfortunate feud that may have its roots in the depressed socio-economic conditions of their homeland. ESPN The Magazine has a feature that sheds some light on just how much the lives and backgrounds of many Latin American ballplayers differs from their more privileged U.S.-born colleagues. More penetrating though on the topic of Latin American baseball is this Dave Zirin profile of Hugo Chavez's Venezuela, where at least one regional leader has demanded industry protection and regulation for his country's citizens.

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I won't be posting for a week due to the death this week of my grandfather and then a getaway trip to New Orleans. Keep it real.

1 Comments:

At 7:57 AM, Blogger Dave Levenhagen said...

My deepest condolences to the entire Moeller family. I probably owe some credit for our friendship to Elmer and his location 5 houses up the street from me growing up. The summer days you guys would spend in town at his house led to many tennis court baseball games and some afternoons in front of the TV with grandpa watching the Cubs game on WGN. Maybe he can convince God that this should finally be the year.

 

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