TresSugar

Teacher Has Sex With 18-Year-Old Pupil - Should It Be Illegal?

CitizenSugar — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 09:30:24 -0800

A high school teacher accused of having sex with a senior at his school has been cleared of any illegal wrongdoing. This week a Washington state appeals court dismissed the case brought against the 33-year-old choir teacher, ruling that state law does not ban teachers from having sex with 18-year-old students.

While the ick factor suggests that an 18-year-old having consensual sex is different when the partner is a school teacher, should there be a legal difference? Would you like to see this choir teacher face criminal charges?

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Paper or Cash? Supermarket Bagger Returns Lost $10,000

LibertySugar — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 06:00:00 -0800

Moses, a supermarket bagger, says the bible inspired him to return $10,000 in cash he found in his store's bathroom. Moses explained: "I teach at Sunday school with 10-year-old kids and I always tell them to do the right thing."

CNN deemed Moses' action so unusually generous that it sent a reporter to the store to discuss his decision making process. But perhaps choosing to return the money isn't so surprising. Despite the lure of free money, $10,000 on a bathroom floor seems a little fishy. Maybe Moses didn't want to get mixed up in any trouble, since someone would probably come looking for the cash.

What would you do if you found $10,000 in a bathroom?

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States, Provinces to Cap and Trade Sans Federal Governments

LibertySugar — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 11:00:00 -0700

Seven western US states and four Canadian provinces have agreed to cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 15 percent before 2020. Proud of the Western Climate Initiative, Republican California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger asserted:

We’re sending a strong message to our federal governments that states and provinces are moving forward in the absence of federal action, and we’re setting the stage for national programs that are just as aggressive.

So how will Arizona, California, Montana, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec curb climate change? To find out, read more.

The states and provinces will set a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas beginning in 2012. The cap will get smaller every year. All sectors of the economies, from transportation to housing to electricity, will be expected to cut and pay for emissions. Industries, however, will receive allowances for their emissions. One allowance will cover every metric ton of emitted heat-trapping gas, and allowances can be traded on a secondary market.

Are you happy to see the states coming up with climate change alliances, or would it be better if there was a united national plan?

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In Bloom: Cherry Blossoms Open in DC

CitizenSugar — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 00:01:00 -0700

The annual National Cherry Blossom Festival kicks off this past weekend in Washington DC, and runs through April 12. It marks the 96th anniversary of Tokyo's gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the capital city. Cherry blossom festivals are held all over Japan, and the flower heralds Spring, represents love, and illustrates a basic tenet of Japanese philosophy: perfection is fleeting (love, too).
*Updated photos*
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University of Washington Students Eat With Compost!

LibertySugar — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 11:00:37 -0700

When people live somewhere as naturally beautiful as the Pacific Northwest, I imagine they stop at no limits to help keep their environment clean and green. The University of Washington has banished all things plastic from its dining hall, opting for serving products that can be tossed directly into a compost pile.

The cups, containers, plates, and utensils are made of corn, reed work, and sugar cane. Sweet! The "silverware" wasn't so hot at first. Not only did it break down in the soil, it broke down in warm dishes like soup, too. But a year and a half after it began the creative-green initiative, the campus found a product that gets the job done.

Seattle should thank the University of Washington for the trial-and-error success because starting Jan. 1, all food establishments in the city will have to stop using foam, and by July 2010 all plastic must be substituted with recyclable or compostable containers. Sounds like hometown-company Starbucks has to rethink its lids!

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Washington, DC Submits Designs For New Quarter

LibertySugar — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:00:00 -0800

Yesterday, the mayor of Washington, submitted three proposals to the US Mint for its new quarter to be released in 2009. All three quarter designs would include DC's motto: "Taxation Without Representation" to reflect DC's lack of congressional voting rights. In fact, today marks the anniversary of DC officially coming under direct legislative control of the US Congress in 1801.

The three proposals advocate using - the “Stars and Bars” of the District flag, which came from the Washington family crest; astronomer and abolitionist Benjamin Banneker; or the jazz icon, and native son, Duke Ellington.

Although included in all three submissions, is unlikely that "Taxation Without Representation" will be included, as the Mint considers controversial or political subjects inappropriate. Do you think the motto is a political issue or a human rights issue? Should DC's quarter represent the widespread and enduring sentiment among DC's residents?

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Inauguration Week: Oprah Goes to Washington!

LibertySugar — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:01:00 -0800

Oprah Winfrey plans to go to Washington, DC for the inauguration of Barack Obama, and she's bringing her audience, which is spread out across places like Saudi Arabia and another 140 countries!

During inauguration week Oprah will tape her show at the Kennedy Center's Opera House, also the location of Oprah's rumored star-studded inauguration night party. I guess we can start calling it the Kennedy Center's Oprah House.

Since Oprah really, really wanted Obama to win, you know she'll throw a celebratory bash to remember! Are you one of the 1.5 million people that plan on being in DC with Oprah for the inauguration?

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DC Spiritual Leaders Protest Torture Veto

CitizenSugar — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:00:59 -0700

Members and supporters of the Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture dressed as detainees yesterday during a demonstration orchestrated to "demand Congressional action to stop torture" on Capitol Hill. President Bush's veto of HR 2082 over the weekend - a bill that would prohibit all US intelligence agencies, including the CIA, from subjecting detainees to waterboarding, stress positions, hypothermia, and other forms of torture - was at the center of their protest.
The protest calls attention to broader spiritual concerns that reach beyond the walls of the Pentagon. The faith-based group says that torture "violates the basic dignity of the human person that all religions hold dear." In his veto of the "anti-torture" bill, President Bush was careful to point out that he wasn't vetoing in favor of a specific technique like waterboarding, but rather because of the need for secrecy surrounding our techniques. To see what he said, read more. Bush said,

Section 327 of the bill would harm our national security by requiring any element of the Intelligence Community to use only the interrogation methods authorized in the Army Field Manual on Interrogations . . . My disagreement over section 327 is not over any particular interrogation technique; for instance, it is not over waterboarding, which is not part of the current CIA program. Rather, my concern is the need to maintain a separate CIA program that will shield from disclosure to al Qaeda and other terrorists the interrogation techniques they may face upon capture.

The "spiritually-rooted" ceremony drew attention to the broader reaching faith-based concerns over tactics of war. Does President Bush have an obligation to publicly oppose methods like waterboarding? Do you agree with his reasoning behind the veto? Can a coalition of the faithful inspire different thinking about the way we think about war?

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What?! Women Are Too Dumb to Live? Are You Outraged?

CitizenSugar — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 16:00:16 -0800

Hoo boy. So Charlotte Allen wrote a little piece in the Washington Post yesterday. It started out mildly controversial, with her hypothesizing that women's reactions to Obama at campaign rallies were evidence that women were behaving like empty-headed Beatles bimboes around Barack. Okay, dicey, but I'm with you so far. . . .

Then she goes on to say that while women are somewhat capable of being brain surgeons and fighter pilots, "the number of women in these fields will always lag behind the number of men, for good reason." Whoa. Come again? Wait, wait, it gets better:

So I don't understand why more women don't relax, enjoy the innate abilities most of us possess (as well as the ones fewer of us possess) and revel in the things most important to life at which nearly all of us excel: tenderness toward children and men and the weak and the ability to make a house a home.

So ladies. Are you dumping that scalpel in favor baking a nice shortcake? Are you outraged by this article?

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Speed Read! Jennifer Hudson to Perform at State Dinner

TresSugar — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 09:30:19 -0800

Chicago native Jennifer Hudson will perform at the White House's star-studded state dinner tonight. - Washington Post
Google buys ads to explain why an offensive image of Michelle Obama comes up in search results. - Huffington Post
Should we thank Kate Moss for being frank about watching her weight? - Double X
Family returns from out of town to find home has been broken into and
decorated for Christmas. - Lemondrop
Can you write like Sarah Palin? Slate's holding a contest. - Slate
Inside a supermodel's suicide. - Sexy Beast
Octomom Nadya Suleman says she might have more children. Great. - Jezebel
New albums from Rihanna and Lady Gaga are out. - BuzzSugar
Seven lessons we can learn from Hollywood stuntwomen. - Flavorwire