The Daily Parker

So said the FBI to 20-year-old Yasir Afifi when they came to collect the GPS tracking device Afifi found attached to his car:

Afifi, a business marketing student at Mission College in Santa Clara, discovered the device last Sunday when he took his car to a local garage for an oil change. When a mechanic at Ali’s Auto Care raised his Ford Lincoln LS on hydraulic lifts, Afifi saw a wire sticking out near the right rear wheel and exhaust.

Garage owner Mazher Khan confirmed for Wired.com that he also saw it. A closer inspection showed it connected to a battery pack and transmitter, which were attached to the car with a magnet. Khan asked Afifi if he wanted the device removed and when Afifi said yes, Khan pulled it easily from the car’s chassis.

Afifi considered selling the device on Craigslist before the FBI showed up. ... Afifi’s encounter with the FBI ended with the agents telling him not to worry.

“We have all the information we needed,” they told him. “You don’t need to call your lawyer. Don’t worry, you’re boring. “

I sure hope they had a warrant.

Via Snopes, a clip from Jamie Oliver as he demonstrates to schoolchildren in Huntington, W.Va., where their chicken nuggets come from:

For the record, I eat tofu nuggets that are probably even more disgusting to some people, being made from all the leftover bits of soybeans.

From guest blogger Diane W.:

Lately, the news is awash with story after story about youngsters committing suicide as a result of homophobic bullying. The nation's eye is finally turning to organizations like The Trevor Project, with celebrities climbing out of the rainbow-colored woodwork to lend their voices in the collective cry of, "Why is this happening?!" Our nation is stunned by the news, stunned, I tell you, that kids as young as 11 are taking their own lives because dying seems a better option that living as a homosexual in our society.

Really, people? Are you really that stunned, shocked, surprised, or other synonym for being caught in a state willful ignorance?

Where do you think kids get the idea that being gay is bad, and that other kids that "act" gay need to have it beaten or humiliated out of them? They're not pulling bigotry out of a box of Fruity-Os, people. They're being handed it by the headlines, by the off-hand jokes their dad makes watching football with The Guys, and by the pastor at church.

Homosexuals are third class citizens in this country. They can't marry. They can't serve in the military. They are creepy, and we should be afraid of them, because they are all pedophiles who should not be allowed to adopt or raise children. The message is loud and clear. And with these messages broadcast every day for decades on end, are we really going to pretend to be surprised that kids treat their gay peers as third class citizens? Children do as children see. And if anyone is to blame for what is happening, it is US.

For years the GLBT community has talked to their youth, telling them not to believe the hype. That it's okay to be gay. Even now, the message is, "It Gets Better," so don't give up. While I don't disagree that it's an important message, and one that frankly is true for pretty much anyone in middle/high school, gay or not—it's not the most important message to put out there. Maybe a few more despairing gay kids will reach out and find someone to quarterback them through the bullying, but what really awaits them on the other side? If the bullies are still bullies, and turn into bigoted adults...if our country keeps preaching the same message from its legislative pulpit...then what, really, have we gained?

All due respect, it's not the GLBT youth that need a hotline. It's everyone else. It's the adults who teach their kids bigotry that need to learn to respect others. They have to do before they can teach. It's the lawmakers that need to stand up to their bigoted constituents, much as lawmakers stood up for women, African-Americans, and other minority groups, and gave them a voice for equality. It's time this country got off its collective paranoid ass and recognized that homosexuality is not a lifestyle choice and that homosexuals are not fire-breathing monsters. They're people. Good people, at that. And the sooner we adults stop treating them like criminals, the sooner our kids will too.

And that, my friends, is the only way It Will Get Better.

Via reader AS, Newsweek's Julia Baird on the dearth of female characters in "family" films:

It was startling to discover that a new study has found that there is only one female character to every three male characters in family movies. Even creepier is the fact that many of the female characters are scantily clad, and hot (the Little Mermaid wasn’t always depicted popping out of a tiny bikini top).

This study, undertaken by Stacy Smith and Marc Choueiti at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California, analyzed 122 family films (rated G, PG, and PG-13), including 50 top-grossing ones, between 2006 and 2009 and found that only 29.2 percent of characters were female. And one in four female characters was depicted in “sexy, tight, or alluring attire,” compared with one in 25 male characters. The female characters were also more likely than men to be beautiful, and one in five were “portrayed with some exposed skin between the mid-chest and upper thigh regions.” Because you wouldn’t want to take on the world without baring your midriff—girl power!

I'd also like to see a study of the MPAA ratings board, perhaps to understand why films with strong central female characters seem to earn R ratings more than PG-13. Possibly the MPAA are a bunch of old men? Or teenage boys? Is there any way to tell, really?

The looks on the opposition's faces are well worth the price of admission:

Yeah, it's just not as exciting as previous residencies, but it's seriously more work.

Fortunately, I still have time to read gems like this:

Terry Jones and the Dove World Outreach Center may be charged $200,000 by the city of Gainesville, Florida, for security costs incurred by the canceled Koran-burning originally planned for September 11.

Jones' announcement of "International Burn-A-Koran" day resulted in some violent protests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and threats against Americans. In response, Gainesville upped its security. According to The Associated Press: "Police Maj. Rick Hanna said more than 200 officers were on duty last weekend patrolling the church, the University of Florida football game and "soft targets" like the mall. Another 160 sheriff's deputies were also working because of the planned protest at Dove World Outreach Center."

Though Jones didn't go through with the protest, city officials say they want Jones to foot the bill for the security anyway.

To the tune of "Personality," everyone sing: "'Cause he makes...externalities...de de do do..."

Speaking of economics, here's a brief lesson for people who want the millionaire tax cut to continue:

From Dan Savage the week before last:

Is everyone in the Republican Party a closeted homosexual?

—Ken Mehlman's Out Now

Everyone except Ken Mehlman and Ben Quayle.

Of course, this simply isn't true. Other Republican leaders have come out as well.

Josh Marshall: "Who could have predicted that an orchestrated campaign anti-Muslim hate speech on the part of many of the country's most prominent politicians and the country's biggest news network could have led to this unfortunate situation in Florida?"

Indeed.

The Economist has picked up on Daley's departure:

After Mr Daley privatised the city’s parking meters, drivers filled coin slots with glue and docile aldermen briefly located their spines. Last year Mr Daley struggled to close a budget gap. This summer just 31% of Chicagoans thought he should seek re-election.

So who will succeed Mr Daley? The most promising contender may be Mr Emanuel. Whoever the replacement, he is unlikely to bring the dramatic changes that characterised the Daley era. But a new leader is overdue. “Simply put,” Mr Daley said, “it’s time.”

And the Guardian:

Speculation in Chicago and Washington DC quickly turned to [President Obama's chief of staff Rahm] Emanuel, who has long made public his interest in the job – while the timing could not be better from the White House's point of view. With a crushing defeat in the US midterm elections looming, the need for Obama to reshuffle his senior staff after November was growing.

Emanuel refused to comment on the speculation, saying in a statement: "While Mayor Daley surprised me today with his decision to not run for re-election, I have never been surprised by his leadership, dedication and tireless work on behalf of the city and the people of Chicago."

Note that Emanuel was my Congressman until being named Obama's chief of staff in November 2008, and he maintains a permanent residence in the city.

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley will not run for re-election next spring:

Daley's public approval rating had dipped recently, with a Tribune poll earlier this summer showing that more than half of Chicago voters said they don't want to see him re-elected.

The poll found only 37 percent of city voters approve of the job Daley is doing as mayor, compared with 47 percent who disapprove. Moreover, a record-low 31 percent said they want to see Daley re-elected, compared with 53 percent who don't want him to win another term.

The mayor's administration has been buffeted by a spate of summer violence, a weak economy and a high-profile failure to land the 2016 Olympics. Dissatisfaction abounds, the survey found, over Daley's handling of the crime problem, his efforts to rein in government corruption and his backing of a controversial long-term parking meter system lease.

This isn't a big surprise, as President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has hinted he wants the job—which he would never do without knowing for sure Daley was stepping down.

(Morton's Steakhouse, the best in Chicago, has portraits of the city's mayors going back to Daley's father.)