My Sick Mind

NEW YORK - The teachers' union for the nation's largest public school system accused the city on Friday of banning political campaign buttons and sued to reverse the policy, declaring that free speech rights were violated . Last week, some University of Illinois faculty and students held an Obama rally on campus, claiming their right to support political candidates was under assault. Before the rally, the school released a statement saying state workers were prohibited by law from participating in political activities on university property. The school later said it never intended to enforce the law . The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education recently sent a letter of protest after the University of Oklahoma instructed students and faculty and staff members not to use university e-mail to endorse or oppose a candidate. The group said it also had received complaints about bans on campaign activities at Iowa Western Community College and Fresno Pacific University in Cal...

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue . - Steve McCroskey, "Airplane" After last night's late night baseball extravaganza , I decided to take the day off and rest. I started picking at the TV early this morning and rested on Regis and Kelly, who were interviewing a pony tailed Russell Crowe. Suddenly, the screen changed to the ABC News logo and the voice-over said, in that serious tone: This is a special report from ABC News . "Oh boy", I thought, "another airplane hit a building." No. They cut into the hockey mom's favorite program to show us the opening of the New York Stock Exchange and its subsequent 600-point drop. In 6 minutes, the Dow Jones Industrials were down 648 points. It's settled-in at minus 250. One pundit was predicting that today was the bottom, another was saying he didn't know and a third thought we needed a bank holiday to close the markets for a couple of days to let everyone gather their thoughts. ...

As regular readers know, my face was in the place last night as the Phillies started the National League Championship series against the Dodgers. After the initial build-up and pomp, the Dodgers jumped to a 2-0 lead and the usually boisterous crowd fell silent, awaiting what we all felt was grim defeat. But like a flash of lightning, Chase Utley hit a 2-run homer to right field to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth and Pat Burrell followed with a solo shot to give the Phils a 3-2 lead that they would carry to the end. I sent a friend a text message that said, 46,000 people just woke up . When Burrell came out to his position in left field to start the seventh, the crowd in the left field seats (which included me) stood and cheered. He has been here his entire 9-year career and to say it's been a roller coaster ride would be an understatement. However, once the post-season starts, it's a fresh beginning for everyone. He homered on Sunday to help the Phils get to this se...

I get a lot of e-mail. Some come from people or things I don’t know, but I open them anyway. Mister Curiosity. I’m not altogether sure what this one is about. Perhaps it is a plea to the penis, missing a comma and exclamation point. “Get bigger, Penis!” Damn you. Or maybe it’s just missing the indefinite article “a”? Now, I suppose I’m in for a whole new rash of Google searches. Well, tiny folk, feel free to explore the link. Make sure you spell it correctly.

Fortunately for me, I missed the debate last night. I was doing something important. Anyway, I also missed this awkward moment after the show was over.

There are big doings around here over the next week or so. That hasn't always been the case for baseball fans (see profile photo at right). Usually, we're [the Philadelphia we ] are sitting around watching other people going to baseball games. Now it's our turn to go. By the way, it must suck to be a Cubs fan right now. In the spring, people who are supposed to know gave the Cubs and Tigers a trip to the World Series. During the season, those same people said that the Angels were a lock and the Tampa Rays would fade down the stretch. Who is in the playoff "Final Four?" The Phillies, Dodgers, Red Sox and [ahem] Rays. I would say that it must suck to be a Mets fan, but that goes without saying, so I won't say it. There is National League Championship Series baseball to be played and it starts on Thursday right here in Philadelphia. Fortunately for me, I'll be at game 1 and unfortunately for me I will not be at game 2. But that's why I have a television...

This is a new product developed by Ford Motor Co., called MyKey. Starting next year, Ford Motor Company will roll out a new feature, controlled by a computer chip in the key, that allows parents to limit the car's speeds to 80 mph and set a maximum volume for the audio system and to sound continuous alerts if the driver doesn't wear a seat belt on some 2010 models . Parents also have the option of having the car sound a chime if the teen exceeds 45, 55 or 65 mph. The feature will debut on the 2010 Focus compact car and quickly move to other company models as a standard feature, the company said . Parents? Maybe they should sell the thing to some kids who might want to slow their parents down a little. I hate to come off sounding like a control freak, but maybe this is an idea whose time has come for everybody, not just kids. After all, if the speed limit is 55 or 65, 80 should be plenty. I'm guessing it's just a matter of time before Washington lawmakers get their f...

Partly because today was a big sports day in the area and partly because I have no social life, I chose to spend the better part of the day in front of the TV watching sports. The Phillies were in Milwaukee, finally ending the playoff series that would send them into the League Championship Series on Thursday. I'll be there, which beats watching it on television, although I'll have to come to grips with the $80 ticket price. I try not to think about that part. During the game, in addition to the numerous Frank TV commercials, there's one for Dish TV (no relation) that features a scene from "Poltergeist," where the kid looks into the white noise on the TV and says, "They're here" and an aged Craig T. Nelson rises from bed to tell us that they really aren't here. At the bottom of the screen, the disclaimer appears: SCENE FROM POLTERGEIST. NOT INTENDED TO DEPICT ACTUAL CABLE VIEWING EXPERIENCE . That's nice. Otherwise, I would have thought th...