Hot off the Press: 'Your elections are fake' edition

Civil unions in France — or PACS, as they are known — are now more popular than traditional marriage: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/world/europe/16france.html?_r=1&hp. I love this quote:

“We’re the generation of divorced parents,” explained Maud Hugot, 32, an aide at the Health Ministry who signed a PACS with her girlfriend, Nathalie Mondot, 33, this year. Expressing a view that researchers say is becoming commonplace among same-sex couples and heterosexuals alike, she added, “The notion of eternal marriage has grown obsolete.”

The Los Angeles United School District is moving forward with a plan to allow corporate sponsorship of athletic fields, auditoriums, and other campus facilities to generate much needed money: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/12/cash-strapped-la-schools-seeking-corporate-sponsors-for-athletic-fields-other-facilities.html. This is sick. Is this another step toward a completely privatized education system?

A very thoughtful and, apparently, informative NYT op-ed about how Detroit's Big Three are sliding down the same slippy slope that lead them to bankruptcy and federal bail-outs: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/opinion/16niedermeyer.html?_r=1. Here are a few of my favorite parts:

...some 32 percent of all vehicles from the Big Three sold through October going to fleet operators. Furthermore, a quarter of all the hybrids built by Detroit since President Obama took office have been bought by federal agencies...

Inventory levels at both companies have ballooned this year, to the point where G.M. now has nearly three months’ worth of sales sitting on its lots and Chrysler’s excess inventory (in terms of days of supply) is exceeded only by such marginal players as Saab, Mitsubishi, Suzuki and Mazda.

Allowing new cars to pile up on lots may well be the most deadly of Detroit’s new-old bad habits, as the practice not only artificially inflates sales numbers (which, ridiculously, are booked upon production, not when a vehicle is driven off the lot), but also lead to yet more incentives, fleet sales, subsidized leases and subprime lending.

Much of the firepower used by Mexican drug cartels can be traced to guns smuggled into Mexico from the US: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12014794.

The Brickskeller Salon in Washington, DC, which holds the Guinness Book record of having the largest selection of commercial beer (1,200 of 'em) closed on December 18: http://definitionale.com/2010/12/14/5668/, http://voices.washingtonpost.com/all-we-can-eat/beer/beer-dave-alexander-on-the-end.html

All arrows point to the FCC passing a compromise on net neutrality, splitting the Internet (yes — it is supposed to be spelled with an uppercase "I") into two distinct access classes: fixed-line and wireless. As usual, the rules seem to stick it to consumers: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-12046874, http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/business/media/21fcc.html?_r=1&hp. Here's a good quote:

Citing the wireless proposal, Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, said over the weekend that the F.C.C. was effectively allowing discrimination on the mobile Net, a fast-growing sector.

“Maybe you like Google Maps. Well, tough,” Mr. Franken said on Saturday on the Senate floor. “If the F.C.C. passes this weak rule, Verizon will be able to cut off access to the Google Maps app on your phone and force you to use their own mapping program, Verizon Navigator, even if it is not as good. And even if they charge money, when Google Maps is free.”

He added, “If corporations are allowed to prioritize content on the Internet, or they are allowed to block applications you access on your iPhone, there is nothing to prevent those same corporations from censoring political speech.”

Once the wonder of electronic communication and the budding "web" in the nineties, e-mail is now considered "lame" compared to texting and social network messaging services: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/technology/21email.html. I love e-mail, so you're lame.

School officials and parents were apparently appalled when Johnston High students were seen "grinding" at a recent dance: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20101221/NEWS/12210355/Some-adults-call-teen-dance-fad-too-close-for-their-comfort. Fucking Puritans; have these people never opened their eyes? This, though has got to be nominated for "best quote of the year":

It's never good at a dance when you see girls bent over while dancing with guys.