"Maggie goes on a diet' causing a brouhaha

From The Associate Press
By Leanne Italie

NEW YORK — Messages of good health and positive self-esteem for girls aren't hard to come by in kid lit, so what's the deal with all the attention for a not-yet-published rhyming picture book about an obese, unhappy 14-year-old named Maggie?

The title, for starters: "Maggie Goes on a Diet."

For seconds, like-wildfire circulation of a blurb describing how the bullied girl is transformed through time, exercise and hard work into a popular, confident and average size soccer star. And cover art showing her wistfully holding up a Cinderella dress as she stares at her imagined, much slimmer self in a full-length mirror.
And an inside page, the only one most people have seen, that shows her hunched over the fridge during a two-fisted eating binge.

Thirds? Real teenagers have long moved on from rhyming picture books and the reading level for Hawaii dad Paul Kramer's amateurish, self-published effort is recommended on Amazon for kids ages 4 to 8.
The online mess for Kramer began recently with outraged commenters on Amazon, where pre-orders haven't propelled Maggie anywhere near the top of the rankings. There's now a "savemaggie" hashtag on Twitter, a "Say No to Maggie Goes on a Diet" Facebook page, calls for a boycott and demands that Amazon and Barnes & Noble pull the book.

Kramer won't disclose how many orders he has for Maggie, which isn't out until October. While most of the attention has been negative, he said, there are supporters, like this one who responded to a book basher on Twitter: "She's 14, not 6. Are you seriously suggesting that, with the obesity problem in this country, that a book teaching children to exercise and eat right, is somehow IMMORAL? I bet your fat."

Read more at:
http://www.rr.com/entertainment/topic/article/rr/7392520/50141388/Outrage_explodes_over_rhyming_diet_picture_book

Language: What the "heck" is a minced oath?

Our in-house linguist here at Laredotejas has a tendency to avoid spewing profanities and thus chooses to use the PG-13 version of name-brand bad words or maldiciones. The title of this post uses one such example. Other typical examples include dang for damn and shoot for another favorite. Well, it turns out these examples of "polite profanity" are known as minced oaths. Yet another well-worn freakin illustration of this would be, of course, the word "freakin" or "friggin": both forms of which are acceptable.

Not to be outdone, our rich Spanish language has its own list of minced oaths.  How many times have you heard someone exclaim Chihuahua!, chinelas! or simply chin! instead of the more visceral Chin*@^# ! 

Similarly, a series of popular commericals for Pronto Insurance makes use of the same principal. In one commercial, a girl, notices how buffed her friend's derrier has become and exclaims "Nalgame" cleverly used where "Valgame" would normally have been appropriate. This is a minced oath-but sort of in reverse.  In another Pronto commercial, one character displays his bulging biceps as his stunned freind proceeds to yell out "A Cabr....unintelligible" in sheer astonishment.

See for yourself, the ingenious use of such minced oaths in action.

Time Magazine tells you what you should eat- NOW!

When you go out the HEB to buy your usual supply of Fajitas, chicken leg quarters, mollejas, sausage and diet Coke, don't forget to toss in a copy of this month's edition of Time Magazine. It features all sort of good information on nutrition and your health. Perhaps, as you enjoy your tortillas de harina stuffed with a virtual mini-parrillada, you can read up on this important information about the benefits of eating certain foods such as berries, almonds, broccoli, and assorted nuts and grains.

Looks like rain will miss Laredo yet again

Tropical Depression XIII has formed out in the Gulf of Mexico. So close, yet so far away. The forecasted path for this system, as shown above, does not include South Texas. Instead, the TD is expected to turn into a Tropical Storm and move North towards Louisiana, moving inland as soon as this weekend. 

On the bright side, we only got up to a relatively balmy 102 degrees today. As hot as it was, it was definitely much better than Monday's record-setting 109 degrees. Incidentally, Heatwave Behrler announced yesterday that the month of August, 2011 was the first month ever in which our temperature reached at least 100 degrees every single day.  That's right, all 31 days eclipsed the century mark. Laredo Proud!

Al Roker to roll with Laredo Law ?

The multi-faceted Al Roker

I admit I didn't get to hear much of it, but Al Roker, the jolly weatherman, was on Jimmy Fallon tonight saying something about filming a special in the border town of Laredo, Texas. Come to think of it, I do recall posting something a few months ago about an item in the city council agenda pertaining to the same thing.

I also recall posting about an "Al Roker Productions Company" making plans to ride with local law enforcement teams in order to film a COPS-like program.  I wondered out loud (in writing) if it was THE Al Roker behind the effort. It now appears that it was and so the formerly-chubby meteorologist is apparently expanding his repertoire.

So much for trying to improve the city's image. I wonder if whatever squad cars Roker's crew will be writing with will be displaying the new "Laredo-always a reason to celebrate" logo, as opposed to much-maligned, more traditional "Gateway to Mexico".

See the original Laredotejas post from back in February:
http://laredotejas.blogspot.com/2011/02/bad-boys-bad-boys-what-you-gonna-do.html

Sheriff thrilled with grant money, looks forward to getting SWAT mobile

Look out for more potholes coming to the Gateway City

It was interesting to hear Sheriff Martin Cuellar's take on what his department might do with some of the big bucks heading his way compliments of brother Henry.  One thing in particular Martin Cuellar mentioned was the possible acquisition of an armored car used for SWAT purposes.  The sheriff explained that this getting such a vehicle would be very important, "because we've never had one before". It was not because "we need one" or "it is crucial to our operations" but simply because the department has never had such an impressive SWATmobile before.

It's not bad enough that our roads are being decimated by the fracking industry's convoy of trucks hauling stuff all over town, now we have a multi-ton armored car to deal with.

City's website continues "down"

Laredo Proud:  City website continues unavailable

As Dana Carvey's church lady character loved to say "how conveeeenient"! Such could be said in regards to the City of Laredo's website as it continues to be unavailable to the taxpayers. Mayor Salinas ran on the promise of transparency but of course even back then we knew it was a joke. Did the Mayor order that the website be taken down?  Probably not, but it looks like no one is making it a priority to get the site back up and running.

Look at it this way, if you were part of the city government and always involved in some sort of shenanigans, wouldn't you prefer to have the public knowing as little as possible at the goings on at city hall?