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Pleeeeease feel free to chat, blogwhore, and link-share in the comment thread… 
So here’s what Bookworm Bob & I have been looking at since Wednesday — and since it’s the weekend, my animated sockpuppet friend Bob and I are emphasizing human interest stories in this round-up…
• San Francisco Chronicle‘s That cheese is always kind of rubbery:
A man has sued a Southern California Claim Jumper restaurant, claiming he ordered French onion soup and bit into a condom instead of melted cheese.
Mmm…Sixty-four slices of American Cheese. 
Oh wait…rubbery cheese in the soup?
Hodousek’s attorney Eric Traut said his client wants to have restaurant employees’ DNA tested to find a match to the condom.A public relations firm representing Claim Jumper said no one can prove the so-called “foreign object” Hodousek took from the restaurant is the item that was submitted to a lab for testing.
Eew!
• NBC Miami‘s Florida GOP Losing a Diva, But Gains a Beauty Queen; The ex-Miss California isn’t a bad replacement for the outgoing Gov. Charlie Crist:
How do you replace a diva with flowing blonde hair and the perfect skin tone? With a controversial beauty queen, of course.
With Governor Charlie Crist destined to take his divalicious act to D.C., the state GOP is turning to 2009 Miss USA finalist and infamous anti-gay marriage advocate Carrie Prejean to lead the Republican Party’s youth movement, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Prejean, the 22-year-old who had her Miss California USA crown removed by “the Donald” earlier this year, will be making an appearance next month in Kissimmee to boost a Republican registration drive. (If you’re reading Perez Hilton, you’re not invited.)
Now before you run off to debate which of the two stylish leaders has the best hair or the better tan (we still take Crist), think of the possibilities for 2012 if this works…
No comment necessary here, eh?
• Los Angeles Times‘ Hot dogs should carry a warning label, lawsuit says; The suit, by a group that promotes a meat-free diet, seeks to require cancer-risk labels on processed meats. Nutrition experts say foods that go along with the hot dog may be more dangerous:
“Warning: Consuming hot dogs and other processed meats increases the risk of cancer.”That’s the label that a vegan advocacy group wants a New Jersey court to order Oscar Mayer, Hebrew National and other food companies to slap on hot dog packages.
The nonprofit Cancer Project filed a lawsuit today on behalf of three New Jersey plaintiffs asking the Essex County superior court to compel the companies to place cancer-risk warning labels on hot dog packages sold in New Jersey…
I rarely eat processed meats, but on occassion I do eat Oscar Meyer 98% fat free wieners. I know that even with a warning I would still enjoy wieners…Anyone else in our forum enjoy wieners? 
• Oregon’s Statesman Journal: Transgender mayor’s clothes spur complaint (and no, not for “crossdressing”!):
His appearance at a recent youth leadership training event spurred the complaint, filed by Silverton Together Director Brenda Sturdevant. She said the mayor’s attire was in violation of the city council dress code.
Sturdevant said Rasmussen’s attire, “high heels, a very short skirt and some sort of halter top revealing much of his bosom, shoulders and back,” was inappropriate.
“This puts Silverton Together in a position that will be difficult to defend when we have sent our youth home on various occasions to change into something more appropriate,” she said. “I expect our public leaders to follow the same guidelines that we have for our youth.”
…Sturdevant went to city hall last week and requested a copy of the city council dress code, which includes a list of “appropriate” and “inappropriate” dress for men and women in a business setting. Among “inappropriate” clothing are: tank tops and mini-skirts.
Uh-huh. 
So the good Mayor looked…inappropriately trashy?…for the youth by showing too much…boob-or-moob, depending on how one, umm, looks at the Mayor’s breasts? Is that what complainer Brenda Sturdevant is saying in appropriately couched language? 
In the mayor’s defense, it was hot and sticky out at over 90ºF / 32ºC on the day the mayor wore the outfit in question. 
I would have probably been wearing a sun dress myself.
• Los Angeles Times‘ At 65, Smokey Bear is still fighting fires; The beloved icon remains the face of the longest-running public service campaign in U.S. history. But keeping him current has been a challenge.:
He’s a war hero who became a media mogul, celebrity pitchman, pop icon and philanthropist. He’s so famous he was given his own ZIP Code, 20252, to handle the fan mail. He is 65 years old but has no intention of retiring. In fact, he looks fitter than ever.
Working outdoors with a shovel will do that.
Smokey Bear was born in August 1944, sired by a committee of ad men and government bureaucrats hoping to safeguard a key war material: wood. Smokey today remains the face of the longest-running public service campaign in U.S. history — a simple message delivered by an anthropomorphic bear.
But Smokey’s story is anything but simple. His uncompromising stance — “Only you can prevent forest fires” — helped alter the landscape by reinforcing the idea that fire was an enemy that should be eliminated, that the price to be paid for living in the path of wildfire was vigilance and will…
I can only imagine what the family reunions look like when Smokey and Yogi Bear both show up. Talk about disparate sides of the Bear family!
• The Denver Post‘s Land mine left at Arvada Goodwill wasn’t explosive:
The Claymore mine found at a Goodwill store in Arvada on Tuesday was nonfunctional, Goodwill said today.
…”There was nothing in the mine to cause a detonation, and (it) was not a threat to anyone in the community,” said Meaghan Carabello, spokesperson for Goodwill Industries of Denver.
Goodwill said that when a bomb or suspicious device is discovered at one of its stores, or a bomb threat is called into one of its facilities, Goodwill follows specific procedures to alert law enforcement and to ensure employee and public safety.
Carabello said the organization cannot speculate why someone would have dropped off a land mine at Goodwill but that an investigation is underway…
Wow. Where would one even get one of those?
So anywho…It’s an open thread! What are you reading or thinking about today?
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Stu Rasmussenand others are on CNN’s “Live with Larry King” right now- obviously on tape, as it’s not even 5:30am EDT. Don’t know who the host is, filling in for Larry, or when this originally aired.
Woke me up a bit…
Kinda odd, to be reading the Blend w/first cuppa java, seeing one of the subject’s of the piece on TV!
Re: Claymore MineThe claymore mine, IMO, is most likely an inert training device. We used these in basic training. They are identical to “live” mines just without the boom-boom stuff.
(7 year Army vet)
Talked to Mom this morningMom also happens to be a retired 911 operator, so I asked her about the Gates situation. Her points:
1) If it’s a B&E in progress, police will be sent out no matter what the caller says. The caller’s possibly racist motivations in making the call is little or no factor in a dispatcher’s assessment of whether the police should be sent out.
Oh, while it’s not written protocol for a dispatcher to ask about race for identification purposes, it’s not unheard of but, then again, that’s probably a non-factor in a potential B&E situation.
2)She gets that Gates was upset and concedes that Gates probably did lash out at the police. It is the policeman’s job to be professional and not to further escalate the situation.
This is easier said than done in some instances, though. She did tell me that even as a dispatcher she would often be on the receiving end of sexist abuse from irate callers. And even she wasn’t 100% professional. (99% professional, yes).
3) The cop’s partner (and in this case, Crowley’s partner appears to have been black) is going to back up his partner no matter what, period.
4) While she agrees with President Obama that the Cambridge police acted “stupidly,” she also feels that Obama escalated the situation unnecessarily and was out of line. After all, Obama’s is the ultimate police power. In her words, “Obama needed to keep his mouth closed.”
In sum:
The burden in that situation falls on Crowley because of his police power, though she can understand why Crowley may have gotten angry if Gates said something about his mamma or played the race card.
She seemed to think that this was a testosterone-fueled encounter as well. But racist?
She couldn’t really tell but she seemed inclined to think race wasn’t much of a factor.
Is it possible for Stu to adhere to any standard dress code?Stu is a self-identified heterosexual man, but he never wears clothing that is male-identified. Can a man who never dresses in male attire be forced to wear it? Regardless of his largely feminine appearance, can a man of any clothing preferences or body type be forced to follow the dress code for women?
I do have to agree that his clothes for this occassion sound less than mayoral. It’s not unreasonable that his job requires a professional look at all professional functions. If you’re going to lead an unconventional life but choose to do so in a very conventional setting, you’re going to have to compromise your standards sometime, just as you expect others to compromise their standards for you.
That’s what the AP article on this story said.I’m just wondering the path this inert, dummy mine took to get to the Goodwill donation box. Wondering aloud if it’s an interesting or a boring story…
That’s what most trans people I’ve talked to about this have said.Mayor Stu has chosen a style of dress associated with female members of American society. If you’re going to dress in female clothing as a trans woman, then sometimes it’s about choosing appropriate business attire for the gender you dress as, and the type of business you work at.
The few of my peers I’ve talked to about this would argue that Mayor Stu’s choise of outfit for that occassion wasn’t appropriately professional for a mayor representing the mayor’s city.
But that said, is a formal complaint, where taking it to the mayor’s full city council for public discussion is the outcome, the best use of Silverton’s governmet time? I know I don’t think so.
But hey, it’s a good human interest story for a This & That diary. Mayor Stu’s outfit on one particular day speaks to the issues of dress codes and appropriate dress for trans people in workplace environments — and how sometimes it isn’t dressing in a “cross-sex” manner that’s the issue. Instead, how a trans person dresses in the workplace is sometimes just about how people in general sometimes don’t dress appropriately for their workplace 100% of the time, no matter what their sex or gender is. Basically, we all make fashion mistakes occassionally, and that includes both Mayor Stu and me.
Re: Stu the crossdressing mayorNot even a close call, I think.
If any other man (or woman) had shown up in their professional capacity to address a youth leadership event “wearing a bathing suit top, a mini skirt and high heels,” he would have probably had his ass fired before the week was out.
And his response: “Why are we even having this discussion? I’m an adult. I’ll wear what I please,”
I’ve got to assume that a man, aged 61, who says, “I’ve been a crossdresser or transvestite my whole life” has some concept of appropriate professional attire. Ergo, the guy’s an attention whore. Nothing inherently wrong about that. He just chose the wrong venue to strut his stuff.
If I had to guess, I’d say the woman making the complaint has ulterior motives, but old Stu just walked into this one. Now he’s wearing it. Or not. And I bet he’s loving every minute of his extra publicity.
My takeInformal observation: A lot of male to female transexuals like to dress female porn style…slutty…to some. I think there is appropriate attaire..i.e. business. Her dress seemed inappropriate for business hours. Save that for your off time.
Take a minute and a half for a budget cuts visualization
Not in my experience, DaveThe women of operative history that I’ve personally known have been conservative dressers. Further, the mayor inists that he is a he and a heterosexual..