CNN American Morning 16-year-olds allowed to strip in Rhode Island...as long as they're home by 11:30 on school nights! Check out this interview on the legal loophole a lawmaker wants fixed...Legal loophole allows Rhode Island minors to strip – amFIX - CNN.com Blogs
Source: amfix.blogs.cnn.com
While teens can’t pump gas or climb ladders on the job because of protections in workplace laws, there is nothing on the books keeping 16- and 17-year-olds from stripping – as long as they’re home by 11:30 on school nights.

Ryan Hannay, 16 is the new 18!
Yesterday at 12:47

Carole Nickerson, Well, times are tough and everyone needs to pitch in.
Yesterday at 13:03

Carole Nickerson, In socialist Canada, we let 'em start stripping at 10.
Yesterday at 15:04

Laura Harris, Carole, I guess that's OK as long as they get free health benefits. ;)

Carole Nickerson, Laura, Healthcare here is free but it sucks. Last time I went for a pap test, some geeky guy in a suit with big glasses and a clipboard came in and stood right between me and my doctor waving his finger.
Yesterday at 18:03

Sakura Ito, Whatever gets them through college, i'd say.
about an hour ago

Paul MacLean, My God...wot has this world come to?...16 and stripping, but home before 1130p...doesn't make much sense, but then again, I could just be old fashioned...I was working in a bloody fast food restaurant when I was 16, mobiles were JUST coming of age, no texting, no digi cams, no bells and whistles, that we all have today (my God I think Im gettin'old...lol)....but Im not complaining about those, but my real concern is how local and state assemblies (depending in which country you live in) pass laws and bills that seem to be taking a bunch of steps back, instead of forward...especially when it comes to protecting children...but this really shoulnd't shock me anyway...Children back home in the UK have been strippin n' teasin for years, for that extra quid....Children in Russia, parts of Southeast Asia, Africa have done this for years, but as a necessity....but their definition of necessity, obviously, differs from the one here in North America....is America REALLY poor?
2 seconds ago

Washington Post posted a link to a news story.
Today at 13:08. N. Korea Escalates War of Words, Calls Clinton Vulgar, Unintelligent - washingtonpost.com
Source: tr.im
PHUKET, Thailand, July 23 -- The war of words between North Korea and the United States escalated Thursday, with North Korea's Foreign Ministry lashing out at Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ...

Timothy Hughes, The Foreign Ministry folks are just Loony Toons... And seemingly they're totally bent on pushing for a nuclear weapon's program...

This is getting really scary...

Paul MacLean, Just looking at this ailing images of this "great leader" is scary enough...BUT, once again we need to remind oursevles, that we do NOT want another IRAQI crisis...But niether the liberals or conservatives are able to sit down and commmunicate with this nuke trigger-happy fella..hate to say this, but it looks like the only we can do is just sit ...back and wait for him to die on his own...are the people of NK so brainwashd or wot?...Im not sure wot Hilary Clinton really has in store to entice this nut-bag..but I do know, for a fact, that sanctions and embargoes are obviously NOT working..invading the country is definitely not the answer...It sounds like Kim Il Jung (wot ever this guy's name is) really wants it to be brought to another and a higher level (when push comes to shove)..he's dong nothing more than just taunting..but his day is coming..just not sure when though. Perhaps he will meet his "Waterloo" when his children decide to turn against him or they die before he does....
7 hours ago

Rhenae Nunez, The world is watching and we are not impressed with the way Iran is behaving. I support the Obama administration's strategy of trying to talk at all times. War is primitive and costly and it does not bode well for our intelligence as human beings. Not confusing the two scenarios, for North Korea to characterize Mrs. Clinton portrays their immaturity and their unintelligence and their vulgarity.
7 hours ago

Paul MacCuish, Kudos for N.Korea having the tenacity to stand up to the vulgarity of the fat and bloated McDonalds eating franchise called America.

Paul MacLean, @Paul....Umm, not sure as to where you're going with this or wot your point is...first off, who is NK REALLY standing up to?..mmm more like the WHOLE world...not exactly America (NK is bored of America), in fact, if anything, America has sanctoned and embargoed a lot of resources and monies on NK...sure, NK has no fear of anyone, because their so-... Read morecalled "great" leader needs, less to nil amount of time, to point and aim his stupid nukes, which alot of them are pointing in the direction of the western world...but don't kid yourself, I think he suffers from paranoia-schizophrenia anyway, or at least has that Jeckyll and Dr. Hyde syndrome thing goin'...,maybe Hilary should just flash herself to him, while she's on tour...you know...just to distract him for at least a couple of minutes...lol
6 hours ago

Kevin Cromer, The problem Paul is that their Nukes can hit Japan and Hawaii. We have a vested interest in both
4 hours ago

Paul MacCuish, The North Korea issue has been around since the 1950's.Your media placates this issue over and over again.America loves it antagonists,it's like an addiction.Everyone is going to have nukes in the next couple of decades, except Iraq! Can their nukes hit Hawaii? Who's the scientist here to prove it. Like Noam Chomsky says 'Americans are passive North Koreans'...you'll rant,they'll rant...Hawaii eh,it's great place to vacation.There's no nukes flying over head there or ever.
4 hours ago

Paul MacCuish, And by the way your American Imperialist President Bush Jr. never did anything to stop NKorea,Slick Willy Clinton just laughed at Kmi Il Jung Jr, Bush Sr never gave a thought to them,Reagan probably didn't know who they were...and the beat goes on! And here's a thought why not trade Lou Dobbs & Bill O'Reilly for the 2 journalists Euna Lee & Laura Ling...a very fair deal.
4 hours ago

Angela Oddone, Secretary Clinton can so totally handle her own with this one.
2 hours ago

Paul MacLean, By doing wot Angela?...shootin' the breeze?, drinkng Black Oolong Tea?, and eatin' stale cookies with a half-crazed lunatic, with a really bad hairdo?!!....SERIOUSLY..,wot other type of sanctions or embargoes can be applied to his country..but he doesn't care, cos he knows that he's got nothin to lose!!...although he could make an unfortunate ... Read moremistake and accidentally aim and shoot at Canada, via Russia, and Alaska...,right through Sarah Palin's front window...lol)....Great!!..., a Korean Nuke shoved up my ass!!
2 seconds ago

CNN American Morning In Black in America 2, CNN's Soledad O'Brien reports on the innovative and unexpected ways people are transforming the black experience by confronting the most difficult issues facing their community.

Jake Fronckowiak, Sorry, but if people really want to stop racism, there shouldn't be a "Black in America" or a "White in America", or a "Latino in America", etc... Get it!!! How about "People in America"

Eather M Greene Henry, Obviously, Jake, you don't know what you are talking about. It's not us who don't want us to be a part of America.

Jake Fronckowiak, All I ask is be a true american. I don't care what color your skin is, but if minorities keep singaling themselves out, no one will ever see them as the same or equal. And shows like this single out the AMERICAN- AFRICAN race. Notice AMERICAN is first. And for the American-African race, if you don't like the word nigger, don't use in every other song!!! You don't hear the guys from Nickelback singin' "I'm a cracker, Where's all my crackers???"
about an hour ago

Karen Wildner Gray, Jake, it's not the word; it's the intention behind the word.

And what the hell is a "true American"? If you want to cut the labels, there's a good start.
about an hour ago

Michelle Wearren, hi Jake, i've read all your posts. don't want to attack you, but want to point something out to you: you said don't use the word in every other song, i'm not writing songs w/the word in them, don't know anyone that is. are we all in this box you've built? many of our baby boomers can't stand the word. they're not using it. i'm not using it, many people i know (black people) don't use the word. so i think you're painting us all w/the same brush. and btw-jim foxworthy has made millions w/ "you might be a redneck" marketing.
also, you don't define black people. you have a right to an opinion, but that's all it is. realize that no matter your qualifications, you don't decide how we should call ourselves, or speak. to think that you do, is the same kind of arrogance that we've dealt w/for centuries. our blood, sweat, tears built this country just like yours, and ours was for FREE.
about an hour ago

Jake Fronckowiak, Point well taken Michelle. I don't know where you live but I hear the N word used by a lot of American-African people, not all, but a lot. I also enjoy a lot of American-African comedians who make fun of themselves and their culture, just like Jeff foxworthy. I have no problem with that!! BUT, when I'm walking down the street with my 4 year- old nephew and we hear a bunch of kids " Yo, what's up my nigga??" and then my nephew gets in trouble for repeating it IN A INNOCENCE CONTEXT, because he sees it as just another type of greeting, like Hello, that's bullshit! IF you can't see that if you don't like a word,especially a word that for centuries has referred to your whole race in a derogatory manner, you don't use it, IN ANY CONTEXT, then you're always gonna hear it. Not from me, but you'll hear it.
IT would be nice if everything was "How It Should Be",but what we have to deal with is Reality!!!
I think we both want to same thing, but just differ in our view on how it should be done.
40 minutes ago

Michelle Wearren, @jake: you could explain to him that they're "cursing". i don't allow my children to say the word (or any other "slurs/curse words" in my presence (even though they're grown). those same kids you're talking about, have no problem using other "grown folks" language that your son shouldn't say. when he's older, if you REALLY wanted to be culturally sensitive, you could explain to your son why HE shouldn't use the word. if he was made to understand our mutual history (in the proper context) he would understand WHY black people become hurt and angry when/if he says it. just like you hear a hundred (or even a thousand) people say something and assume all of us do it....we hear one (or a thousand) white people say it, and assume that that same hatred and potential for violence is within many of YOUR race. just because someone uses it, doesn't make it acceptable.
21 minutes ago

Jake Fronckowiak, Great comments Michelle and others.
Believe me, I explained after the fact. Didn't know he picked it up until his Mom and Dad told me what happened at pre-school. I certainly will explain things like this as they get older.
I just hope for a world where we don't even have to have this conversation. Wish you all the best!!!
Let's remember...We all bleed red and we all cry salty tears, and we all have eyes that light up when we smile. So smile today!!!

Paul MacLean, @Jake...I agree wth everything you have to say...,especially the part where you said "People in America" would be more appropiate instead segregating people's colour all the time, but I guess then again, we wouldn't have all these bills and laws passed through the house, if we didn't always bitch and whine about the colour of our skin, gender, sexual orientation. etc..blah blah blah...now, my real question is, aren't there actually more Asians (including Middle Easterners) than there are blacks?..I could be wrong though...it wouldn't be the first time..lol!!...In the UK ..,I guess colour is just NOT exactly the first thing we see in a person...sure there is racism and bigotry (and sometimes it does turn into violence...so don't get me wrong) in our part of the world, but not to the level it gets over here in Canada and the US...Bigotry and prejudicisms are actually more lanuage and religion related anyway...

Washington Post posted a link to a news story.
Today at 14:04. Records of Virginia Tech Gunman Discovered - washingtonpost.com
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
Virginia Tech gunman Seung Hui Cho had been treated at the college's counseling center before the shooting rampage in which he killed 32 students, contradicting earlier accounts of his psychiatric history, according to newly discovered mental health records located in the home of the center's for...


Amelia Russ, We had an opportunity to be exposed to a Virgina Tech instructor..she was just rottenly draconian ! I am not surprised by this shooters reaction at all. AWFUL!
4 hours ago

David Soliminiseriously, Amelia? That's an awful thing to say.
4 hours ago


Jennifer K Cosham, How could you say something so hurtful, crass, and callous, Amelia? Did you think it was funny?

Amelia RussNO I don't think it is funny at all! This professor had 90 ways to fail a student, and absolutely no way to pass her damn course which was the only final course needed to complete a graduate program. OBVIOUSLY non of you have ever read "Cooling out the Mark" in higher education! I suggest you get a copy.
In 1960, Burton Clark's article The "Cooling Out" Function in Higher Education (American Journal of Sociology) pointed out that the same dynamic exists in higher education. Using his observations of counselors at San Jose City College, Clark argued that education inevitably must address the gap between the promise of an open American educational system, where everyone can theoretically return to school at any time, and limited upward mobility in the labor mark, where not everyone will have a job (or a good job). In contrast to the "hard" letdown of universities that kick students out when they fail classes.
3 hours ago

Amelia Russ, Clark said that community colleges have a "soft" institutional repertoire of testing students before they can take credit courses, counseling them to take vocational programs, requiring an "orientation to college" class, and repeating the testing and advising routine if necessary until and through probation until a student is re-socialized to accept a lower fate. As he write (p. 573): Adverse counseling advice and poor test scores may not shut off his hope of completing college; when this is the case, the deterrent will be encountered in the regular classes. Here the student is divested of expectations, lingering from high school, that he will automatically pass and, hopefully, automatically be transferred. Then, receiving low grades, he is thrown back into the counseling orb, a fourth step in his reorientation and a move justified by his actual accomplishment.


Amelia Russ, Clark argued that there were several traits of an institution with a cooling-out repertoire: alternative definitions of achievement, incremental rejection, use of a paper record to persuade the mark, the existence of "agents of consolation" (academic advisors), and the dissolution of hard-and-fast standards. By diverting students without having to tell them a painful truth of limited opportunity and personal worth, community colleges had an essential role: "the cooling-out process in higher education is one whereby systematic discrepancy between aspiration and avenue is covered over and stress for the individual and the system is minimized" (p. 576).
3 hours ago

Gil Batzri, Amelia, I fail to see how the systemic problem you cite excuses someone on ANY level for going on a shooting rampage, if you actually are "not surprised by this shooters reaction at all." you might check into some counseling.
2 hours ago · Report

Amelia RussInstitutions are ROBBING! And she RUINED 35 students opportunity to graduate by failing ALL of them, unless they dropped her course and waited and waited and waited until another professor picked up the class. ASPIRATION THIEF!
2 hours ago

Amelia RussSenator Dan Patrick (R-Texas) believes that all Texas college students should have the right to carry a gun on all college campuses (for protection). I'll bet none of you even thought about that. That bill was almost passed. I didn't recommend shooting up a school, I only posted that it does not surprise me. WRITE YOUR SENATORS! Do something about... Read more the horrific changes that are taking place.

I joined GUN FREE CAMPUS- John Woods, wrote Senator Dan Patrick almost daily against his GUN happy proposal, and donated toward the Brady Bill. What are you all doing to help solve the problem??????
2 hours ago

Amelia Russ, Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence (JOIN!)

Amelia Russ, Dan Patrick (senator) Friend HIM and let him know that guns do not belong in students backpacks BOOKS do!

Amelia Russ, In the end..... I AM ADAMANTLY OPPOSED to GUNS on CAMPUS and what one student did was horrific, but it will only get worse unless you get off you "assets" and DO SOMETHING! I have listed above some suggestions, now its up to you!

Paul MacLean @Amelia...Im not sure where the connection between a really bad teacher(s) and gun-toting/shooting lunatic is...Was Mr Cho not in recievership of instuctional email about lodging formal complaints about his profs. and instructors?...your interpetations of Mr Clarke's writings seemed to or at least "impressively" confusing...See, most writers (profs, etc.) tend to write and articlize their pieces for THEIR present time(s)...there was ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that Mr. Clarke could fore tell nor mention of the future of personal arms (hand guns) and psychotic humans, 40 or more years later...Can you see into the future, Amelia?..perhaps 40 or 50 years later?..Im simply guessing not...
2 seconds ago ·

CNN American Morning Debate over health care reform making you dizzy? Send in your questions for our Dr. Gupta and he’ll answer them next week on “the most news in the morning.” Click on the link below to see his message and leave your questions...Dr. Gupta: Send in your health care reform questions – amFIX - CNN.com Blogs
Source: amfix.blogs.cnn.com
Do the health care reform headlines leave you with more questions than answers? Dr. Gupta is your AM insider – and he wants to hear from you!


Paul MacLean A lot of time seems to be spent on, surveys, polls, debates and town hall meetings, and yes all on healthcare, which is all very important, but has there been any real action plan put in place, and not to disrespect Dr. Gupta, but really, what's he REALLY gonna tell us, that we don't already know?
Yesterday at 15:33

Washington Post Most Mexicans in U.S. Stay Put Despite Recession - washingtonpost.com
Source: tr.im
Despite the recession, the flow of Mexican immigrants out of the United States and back into Mexico has stayed level, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center.


Susan Parker That's because Mexico is in such turmoil now. Who would want to go back there? We should focus on fixing that country instead of so much on the Mideast. I bet if Mexico was returned to some semblance of order, its natives would head home en masse!
39 minutes ago


Dawn Lasky As long as US Welfare pays so well, why would they go back? The ONLY services not being cut these days are welfare payments to illegals. And without E-Verify enforcement, the stimulus jobs are going to lower priced illegals.
They have more rights here then in Mexico. Hell,they have more rights here then American citizens.


Franscois Jordaan Is there place in Mexico for our South Africans......or do they also kill 50 plus a day there?
9 minutes ago


Paul MacLean @Franscois..,Should we assume that there's no welfare or dole system set up in South Africa?...and if not, YIKES!!...say...Franscois, are you able tell us how the economy is doing, over in your country, perhaps you could so kindly shed bit 'o light on wot's happenin' in your part of the world...We hear a lot about the US, Canada, or the UK, I just thought it be interesting..that's all
2 seconds ago


Ian Joseph Minimal to no wellfare in South Africa with a horrendous HIV infection rate.
http://countrystudies.us/south-africa/57.htm
The SA economy is badly affected by the economic downturn.
http://www.southafrica.info/news/business/33972.htm
Unemployment is at about 23%... Read more
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/15/AR2009071503717.html
4 hours ago

CNN American Morning Today is the six-month mark of Obama's presidency. We have a progress report...Truth-O-Meter: Political scorecard – amFIX - CNN.com Blogs
Source: amfix.blogs.cnn.com
Editor’s Note: PolitiFact.com is a project of the St. Petersburg Times that aims to help you find the truth in politics. Every day, reporters and researchers from the Times examine statements by members of Congress, the president, etc. ...


Paul MacLean @Rob..you're comment(s), ABSOLUTELY holds no substance wot so ever..Wot on earth does some entertainment channel 'ave anything to do with one's success, you've yet to prove or even say anything in your rants...We (as a global community) adore your President and everything he's done so far, not only for your country, but also in Europe, and the rest ...of the World...Just his presence speaks volumes, I wish I could say the same for our Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (frankly, he's rather borng to listen to...lol)..sure, maybe the economy is a little slow climbing back up, an there's still lots of unanswered questions about the stimulus package(s), etc., but I applaud him for his tremendous efforts, and that he doesn't blame his failures, because he's black, or white people are not giving him a fair enough chance!!....just absolute rubbish Mr. Glen!! you ought to be poud of who you are and wot you do, instead of playing yourself, like a card...risky!!
3 hours ago

Washington Post posted a link to a news story.
Today at 15:06. Student Loan Programs Offer Income-Based Repayment and Debt Forgiveness - washingtonpost.com
Source: www.washingtonpost.com
Suzie Dundas is at that stage of life when student loans loom larger than car leases or electricity bills. The $390 monthly payments seem to stretch into perpetuity. They are her largest monthly obligation aside from her rent, which Dundas has decided she can no longer afford. ...


Paul MacLeanIn Canada we have wot is "popularly" known as the "interest relief" program, if one qualifies, it simply means wot it states, an interest-free repayment plan...BUT HALT!!...not so fast!!...the Canadian govrnment (both provincial and federal) make it very difficult for anyone to qualify for this...again, redtape and other political bullshit creates...more confusion and chaos...so whch brngs me to this particular matter..."does this really work? and if so, who REALLY qualifies? and does this affect future admittance to any school or college?....yikes!!
55 minutes ago