Its Current Events day people!!

A lot of stories in today's news caught my eye today so I thought I'd post them, and add my 2 cents.

Chicago passes Smoking bans - from Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051206smokebanpass,1,161125.story?coll=chi-news-hed

Finally, Chicago has joined us civilized cities/states and has banned smoking in public places. It won't take effect for another 2 years or so for bars, but its definitely a big step. You don't know how awesome it is to be able to go into a bar/club for longer than 15 minutes and not come out reeking of smoke until you've experienced it. I don't need febreeze to de-smokify my clothes here in smoke-free California like I did last year...of course, that also could be attributed to the fact that I don't really goooo to bars/clubs anymore...ah well, thumbs up for smoke-free.

Record-breaking cold in Chicago - from Chicago Tribune
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-051207weather,1,2451211.story?coll=chi-news-hed

So its cooold in Chicago. I have to admit when I see headlines like these, I get a warm feeling all over. Who knows, it could be because I'm NOT in the Chicago area anymore or because I got a warm breeze from the window. Its actually not that warm here right now (50's in the day, much colder at night), but its nice to know what I'm missing. Stay warm my Chicago/Evanston friends, bundle up!

Fundamentalists fume: the White House Christmas card fails to mention Christmas - from SF Chronicle
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/12/07/MNGSTG40L41.DTL

Okay, now this just makes me ANGRY. Don't you people have anything better to do? Aren't there more important and pressing issues that would benefit from your efforts and passion? WHO THE HELL CARES what the White House's cards say - it's JUST A CARD. The cards don't say Merry Christmas because they send them to people who don't celebrate Christmas - why don't they celebrate Christmas? Oh yeah, because not everyone in this country is a Christian!! Yes, the country was founded on Christian values, and yes, in God we trust, but the country was ALSO founded on the principles of freedom - you know - freedom of speech, oh and RELIGION. Hey, I'm a practicing Christian, and I have no problem with the President sending out "Happy Holidays" cards - its the freakin' holiday season, happy Hannukah, Kwanzaa, whatever!! We're not all crazy fundamentalists, and I know they're not speaking for Jesus either - Jesus LOVED, fools! To quote a sign that I saw the last time I was in L.A, "God wants Spiritual Fruits, not Religious Nuts." Stop giving Christians a bad name, and go find something better to do with your time. okay, done ranting.