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giauvoster

We Are Not Created Equal in Every Way - 0 views

www.sfgate.com/...article.cgi

shared by giauvoster on 26 Mar 07 - Cached
  • The values placed on an unnaturally thin body for female performers drives some dancers to potentially fatal eating disorders. But that isn't exactly the issue here
  • But I wonder how she feels about her body being a topic of public discussion.
  • the more disturbing issue in this story isn't about weight but age.
  • ...36 more annotations...
  • "We are not a recreation department," said a ballet spokeswoman.
  • Fredrika, however, has said she is quite happy dancing where she is. Still, the mother gets to decide what's best for her daughter's dancing career.
    • shannonlawless
      shannonlawless on 26 Mar 07
       
      This proves that the mom is the one who cares.  The daughter is probably just embarrassed about the whole thing.
    • flyboyzx
      flyboyzx on 28 Mar 07
       
      It sounds like the mother is trying to live her life through her daughter.
  • for the same reason UC Berkeley can reject students based on mental prowess and a fashion modeling school can reject students based on comeliness.
    • shannonlawless
      shannonlawless on 26 Mar 07
       
      This is a good example
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 28 Mar 07
       
      good back up . Uc Berkeley and any other college scans their acceptence applications so why shouldn't the ballet school.
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      another good analogy, but you really cant find an exact match for comparing ballet to anything else.
  • But the reality is that all men and women are not created equal
  • This doesn't mean that women with different body types cannot become professional dancers. They just have to find a different type of dance -- jazz, tap, modern -- just as athletes have to find sports that fit certain body types.
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      this paragraph is about how some bodies are just made for ballet because their bodies would look better doing the dancing, just like certain body types are made for certain sports.
  • Just as in elite gymnastics and figure skating, these children are in the netherland of the law.
  • The child is clearly too young to make such a decision. Yet, in the skewed logic of elite athletics and dancing, she is not too young to pay the price for it.
    • mgee418
      mgee418 on 26 Mar 07
       
      I think that this statement says that yes the parent should help when the child wants it, but the child might not want it as bad as the parent.
  • children at age 8 are already training for adult careers. By age 12 or 13, the children are training so much that they either begin homeschooling or attend a school that accommodates the training schedule.
    • shannonlawless
      shannonlawless on 26 Mar 07
       
      These children are not getting to live a normal childhood.  This is what the author thinks is the main problem.
    • haleysmith
      haleysmith on 27 Mar 07
       
      Can't this cause physical problems for the child in the future? If so, what are the adults thinking?
  • B ut I wonder how she feels about her body being a topic of public discussion >.
  • 8-year-old girl
  • did not have the right body type to be accepted"
    • haleysmith
      haleysmith on 27 Mar 07
       
      This is sending a negative message to young women at an early age, which could cause body type image issues.
  • There is no safety net for them, no arm of government that makes sure that the adults in their lives watch out for their best interests.
    • haleysmith
      haleysmith on 27 Mar 07
       
      Are the children participating/training in a sport because it's what they want or are the doing it to make their parents happy?  Are they fulfilling their dreams or their parents?
  • a psychologist
  • there is > not one on staff.
    • haleysmith
      haleysmith on 27 Mar 07
       
      Who then is helping the children with the stress?
  • leaner body types in selecting 300 students from this year's 1,400 applicants?
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 28 Mar 07
       
      The lean body type is what a dancer is depicted as. Look at any picture of dancers most are lean
  • ethereal, elongated body that can float on air is part of the look and feel of classical ballet
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 28 Mar 07
       
      What a dancer is suppose to look like
  • ballet school usually has a psychologist to counsel the students
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 28 Mar 07
       
      why would the students need a shrink?
  • The San Francisco Ballet School offers the best training in the Bay Area,
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 28 Mar 07
       
      The best only takes the best.
  • REDRIKA KEEFER
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      This paragraph is about an 8 year old girl who dances, and it mentions her body type as an issue.
  • Fredrika and her mother filed suit because
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      This paragraph is about the mother filing a law suit against the San Francisco Ballet school becuase she did not have the right body type.
  • The values placed on an unnaturally thin body for female performers drives some > dancers to potentially fatal eating disorders. But that isn't exactly the issue > here >.
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      this paragraph is about how the thin body type of a dancer can lead to eating disorders, and if the San Fransico Ballet School has the right to give any kind of preference to thinner body types.
  • Yes,
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      this paragraph talks about how the Ballet School does have the right to give preference just as UC Berkeley and modeling schools can give preference.
  • Having written extensively
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      The next two paragraphs the author gives her credibility and tells how the Ballet School is just a training ground to put them into the professional world of dance.
  • children at age 8 are already training for adult careers. >
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      The next three paragraphs talk about  how how the children are being taught as early as 8 for their professional carreer, and it enies them a real childhood; it can take them out of real school and even cause psycological problems.
  • Keefer said she would drop her lawsuit if the school accepted her daughter.
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      This paragraph talks about how the mother would be happy if her child got into the school, telling me that it may be more of the mother's problem than the childs problem.
  • A tall, blocky man, for example, could not be a jockey but he could play baseball.
    • cate1123
      cate1123 on 29 Mar 07
       
      a pretty good analogy for comparison of ballet and sports
  • Does the San Francisco Ballet School have the right to give preference to leaner body types in selecting 300 students from this year's 1,400 applicants?
  • , just like her mother and grandmother before her. She relishes playing the lead role of Clara in the Pacific Dance Theater's "Petite Nutcracker."
    • swimangel1313
      swimangel1313 on 30 Mar 07
       
      I love the Nutcracker
  • FREDRIKA KEEFER is an 8-year-old girl who likes to dance
  • her mother filed suit because, as her mother puts it, she "did not have the right body type to be accepted" by the San Francisco Ballet School.
    • swimangel1313
      swimangel1313 on 30 Mar 07
       
      She is only eight-years-old! What girl has the same body now as they did when they were 8?!! No one
  • But for me, the more disturbing issue in this story isn't about weight but age.
    • swimangel1313
      swimangel1313 on 30 Mar 07
       
      I think it is both. It shows why girls that take part in ballet develop an eating disorder.
  • children at age 8 are already training for adult careers.
  • a psychologist to counsel the students, but at the moment there is not one on staff.
  • Keefer said she would drop her lawsuit if the school accepted her daughter. The San Francisco Ballet School offers the best training in the Bay Area
  • The child is clearly too young to make such a decision. Yet, in the skewed logic of elite athletics and dancing, she is not too young to pay the price for it.
  • F REDRIKA KEEFER
Terry Elliott

Clean Air Act and Dirty Coal at the Supreme Court - NYTimes.com - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...coal-at-the-supreme-court.html

shared by Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15 - No Cached
  • not the Coal Industry Protection Act
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      I like that we know right away where the editorialist stands.  I think that I stand with her.
  • industry’s advocates
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      Interesting choice of words here.
  • at issue before the Supreme Court
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      There is a lot to be gathered by the links especially this synopsis of the history of the case in SCOTUS blog
  • ...24 more annotations...
  • passed the legislation in 1970
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      History of the Clean Air Act.  Again, the expansion of the article through hyperlinks is judicious and solves one of the bog criticisms of these types of editorials--long on opinion and short on nuance and support.
  • other sources
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      Nice, seamless transition.
  • safeguard human health from air pollution
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      The idea of pollution created by the generation of coalpower plants is pre-figured here. And in 1990.
  • mercury, a heavy metal
    • Terry Elliott
      Terry Elliott on 26 Mar 15
       
      I feel the same way about mercury that I do about lead.  
  • accumulates
  • dangerous to the vulnerable, developing brains and nervous systems of young children and fetuses
  • as many as 11,000 Americans
  • and other toxic air pollutants
  • In 2012,
  • agency issued a rule ordering coal-fired power plants, which are far and away the single biggest source of these emissions, to adopt technology to reduce them
  • Cleaning up pollution costs money. Business owners and other industry backers argue that the law requires the E.P.A. to weigh those costs against any potential health benefits of a regulation.
  • a single phrase in the law
  • when it is deciding whether a substance like mercury endangers human health and thus must be regulated — which the law requires it to do — cost is not a factor.
  • Plenty of evidence suggests t
  • courts as a rule defer to reasonable agency interpretations of statutory language.
  • The coal industry, however, argues
  • That is an absurdly low range based on a single statistic: the estimated increase in lifetime earnings for people whose I.Q.s will presumably be higher if their prenatal mercury exposure is lower.
  • $37 billion and $90 billion.
  • The vast discrepancies in these various estimates
  • standard cost-benefit analyses
  • view every regulation,
  • as nothing more than a “war on coal.”
  • not mutually exclusive.
  • Burning coal is a dirty business, but it can be made cleaner. The federal law balances the need for affordable electricity with reduction of significant threats to human health. The Supreme Court has upheld the E.P.A.’s authority to carry out that law’s purpose with broad discretion. There is no reason to upset that deliberate balance, or unreasonably limit the agency’s authority, now.
wamsley24

Veterans Face Vast Inequities Over Disability - New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...09veterans.html

shared by wamsley24 on 09 Mar 07 - No Cached
  • red tape.
  • Allen Curry of Chicago has fallen behind on his mortgage while waiting nearly two years for his disability check.
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      Chicago has the next largest percent of claims. Why would it take so long for them to get their money?

  • ...29 more annotations...
  • ease the backlog and address disparities by hiring more claims workers,
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      i don't understand what that means?
  • Veterans
  • state deploying fewer troops
    • rlreece87
      rlreece87 on 09 Mar 07
       
      which states are deploying fewer troops? which states are deploying the most troops?
    • nor2027
      nor2027 on 09 Mar 07
       
      Who's on first George Bush?
  • “It makes no sense to wait until the troop is already back home to start preparing for them,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But that’s what the V.A. does.”
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      i agree!
  • The influx of veterans from the Iraq war has nearly overwhelmed an agency already struggling to meet the health care, disability payment and pension needs of more than three million veterans.
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      should have thought about all this before actually going to war. poor planning
  • more in benefits.
    • rlreece87
      rlreece87 on 09 Mar 07
       
      why would a state deploying less troops have less benefits?
  • When 5,000 new troops get deployed from California, you can logically expect a percent of them will show up at the V.A. in California in a year with predictable types of problems.”
  • Many new veterans say they are often left waiting for months or years, wondering if they will be taken care of.
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      that's horrible
  • a study that will examine state-by-state differences in average disability compensation payments.
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      Shouldn't there be a nation wide compensation payment
  • Veterans face serious inequities in compensation for disabilities depending on where they live and whether they were on active duty or were members of the National Guard or the Reserve
  • In Pennsylvania, which has sent the fourth-highest number of troops, the claims office in Pittsburgh is tied for second for longest backlogs, where 4 out of 10 claims have been pending for more than six months.
    • shanewebb
      shanewebb on 09 Mar 07
       
      More help is needed for states overwhelemed by a backlog in claims.
  • The claims from returning war veterans plus those from previous periods increased by 39 percent from 2000 to 2006.
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      wow
    • mattbot
      mattbot on 09 Mar 07
       
      dang!
  • “Instead, the places and services giving the most are getting the least.”
    • rlreece87
      rlreece87 on 09 Mar 07
       
      thats terrible!!
  • active duty soldiers.
    • bartruff
      bartruff on 09 Mar 07
       
      why do they take such better care of the active duty soldiers?
  • Bronze Star for his service in Iraq
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      a bronze star and no money
  • The average disability payment for Illinois veterans — $7,803 a year — is among the lowest in the nation, according to 2005 V.A. data.
    • kc-155
      kc-155 on 09 Mar 07
       
      Why are they not being paid very much, if they deployed the 6th highest rate in the country?
  • the staff for handling claims has remained relatively flat, a problem the department highlighted in its 2008 proposed budget.
    • shanewebb
      shanewebb on 09 Mar 07
       
      Understaffing issues are being adressed in upcoming budget plan.
  • his previous life as a $60,000-a-year postal worker
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      makes him sound like hes already dead
  • Where are the new vets showing up?” Mr. Meskin said he kept asking. “They just shrugged.”
    • pattymac218
      pattymac218 on 09 Mar 07
       
      WOW, a data world now and they can not keep up with where the vets are.
  • “It makes no sense to wait until the troop is already back home to start preparing for them,” Mr. Sullivan said. “But that’s what the V.A. does.”
    • rlreece87
      rlreece87 on 09 Mar 07
       
      i agree! this makes no sense.
  • James Webb
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      Shane do you now this guy?
    • shanewebb
      shanewebb on 09 Mar 07
       
      No James in my family.
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      look this guy up he looks just like you.
  • the system was shelved by program officials
    • shanewebb
      shanewebb on 09 Mar 07
       
      Possible solutions are being ignored and pushed aside.
  • $7,803 a year
  • repeatedly urged agency managers to track data so they could better meet the needs of former soldiers. “Where are the new vets showing up?” Mr. Meskin said he kept asking. “They just shrugged.”
    • patrickhittson
      patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
       
      Who shrugged?
  • appointed a commission
    • pattymac218
      pattymac218 on 09 Mar 07
       
      another one... lol


  • flux of veterans from the Iraq war has nearly overwhelmed an agency already struggling to meet the health care, disability payment and pen
  • The backlogs are worst in some states sending the most troops, and discrepancies exist in pay levels.
  • the average annual disability payment for those troops is $3,603, based on 2006 V.A. data for unmarried veterans with no dependents. Active-duty soldiers on average receive $4,962.
    • demetria08
      demetria08 on 09 Mar 07
       
      That's interesting...
  • waited nearly two years for his veterans’ disability check after he was injured in Iraq
    • tennisbabe224
      tennisbabe224 on 09 Mar 07
       
      this is crazy what can i do to change this
    • giauvoster
      giauvoster on 09 Mar 07
       
      How could I do to change this?
    • baribandgeek
      baribandgeek on 09 Mar 07
       
      Well this is our goverment for you.
  • patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
     
    Wouldn't the govt. help w/ mortgage payments if he was waiting on a govt. check
    ?

  • ...1 more comment...
  • shanewebb on 09 Mar 07
     
    A state should expect a fair amount of soldiers to return injured and expect compensation. Therefore, they should be preparing to deal with these matters in a timely and efficient manner upon the soldier's return.
  • patrickhittson on 09 Mar 07
     
    I'm willing to guess that they can come pretty close to guessing that percent that will show up in the VA
  • demetria08 on 09 Mar 07
     
    This is really terrible.
shanewebb

We Are Not Created Equal in Every Way - 0 views

www.sfgate.com/...article.cgi

shared by shanewebb on 03 Apr 07 - Cached
  • Petite Nutcracker
  • My daughter is very sophisticated
  • The values placed on an unnaturally thin body for female performers drives some dancers to potentially fatal eating disorders.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • American ideals
  • Having written extensively about the damaging pressures on young female gymnasts and figure skaters, I understand Keefer's concerns about body type.
  • The San Francisco Ballet School is very clear and open about the fact it is strictly a training ground for professional dancers
  • children at age 8 are already training for adult careers
  • The ballet school usually has a psychologist to counsel the students, but at the moment there is not one on staff.
  • pitfalls their daughters might encounter as they climb the ballet ladder: weight issues, physical ailments, social isolation, psychological pressure.
  • Keefer said she would drop her lawsuit if the school accepted her daughter.
  • best training in the Bay Area
  • The child is clearly too young to make such a decision. Yet, in the skewed logic of elite athletics and dancing, she is not too young to pay the price for it.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    Direct emphasis on size placed in the name of the production.
  • ...8 more comments...
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    How sophisticated could an 8 year old actually be concerning societal pressures to conform?
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    Modeling agencies were of similar thinking, but are now establishing minimum weight standards.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    The term American ideals refers to the notion that anyone should be given the opportunity to become what they wish to be.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    What qualifies her to write about this subject matter? Is it personal opinion pieces or published books?
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    The term "school" should indicate a desire for instruction and training.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    It is unfortunate they lose out on the worry free life of a child.  They are thrown into this pressured environment to early.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    A need for a psychologist exists, yet the school is not immediately concerned with the vacancy.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    Once she got accepted, what kind of implications would follow? Would she be treated wrongly in retaliation for her mother's actions toward the school?
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    If so much interest exists, why not seek training elsewhere? Families who seek the greatest opportunities for their children in acting give up everything and move to Hollywood.
  • shanewebb on 03 Apr 07
     
    The mother is in ultimate control over her daughter's future yet it will be young Fredrika who will endure the likely failures and mental strain over time.
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