Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/15621
NEWS OF THE WEIRD by CHUCK SHEPPARD A recent surge of neo-Nazism in several countries — including, improbably, Israel, and Mongolia (where some dark-skinned natives are rabidly anti-Chinese) — has generally been denounced, but Corinna Burt credited it with rescuing her from a life of acting in pornographic videos. According to a hate-group watchdog, the Portland, Ore., woman is “the most prominent National Socialist Movement organizer in the Pacifi c Northwest.” In an August interview with Gawker.com, the white- supremacist Burt (a mother of two and a professional embalmer who is also into bodybuilding) said she terminated her porn career (as “Cori Lou,” doing mostly bondage and “torture” fi lms) because, “If we (Caucasians) consider ourselves a master race then we have to act like a master race, not degenerates.” [The Guardian (London), 8-2-10; Gawker.com, 8-3- 10] Government in Action Though volunteers got the project started in May, Ventnor City, N.J., continued through the summer to seek fi nancial donations to fi nish the new restrooms that provide relief for those visiting the town’s Atlantic shore. Said Commissioner Stephen Weintrob, “How would someone like to have a toilet named after themselves, or a urinal or sink?” [Shore News Today (Seaville, N.J.), 5-13-10] A Treasury Department inspector general reported in June that, out of 2.6 million applicants for federal mortgage relief, 14,000 “home buyers” wrongly received tax credits and that in fact, 1,300 of them were living in prison at the time of fi ling, including 241 serving life sentences. Sixty-seven of the 14,000 received tax credits for the same house, and 87 more potentially fraudulent tax-credit applications were fi led by Internal Revenue Service employees. [ABC News-AP, 6-23-10] Things That Shouldn’t Get Backlogged: A July Illinois law requires that all hospital “rape kits” on victims be tested for blood and DNA (in that fi nding a rapist, and certainly convicting him, without such evidence is often hopelessly diffi cult). Until now, 80 percent of the rape kits taken in the state had sat, untested. (As TV police dramas emphasize, many rape victims are reluctant to submit to the indignity of swabbing and photographing so soon after being violated and comply only because detectives assure them of the rape kit’s importance.) [New York Times, 7-8-10] COPYRIGHT 2010 CHUCK SHEPHERD WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM WEEKLY HOROSCOPES BY HOLIDAY ARIES (March 21-April 19) There are those in your midst who have already attained what you aspire to. Everyone goes at his or her own pace. When you realize this, you will derive inspiration from your peers instead of feeling threatened by them or superior to them. If they can do it, so can you. TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Your thought- fulness and attentiveness to others are quite remarkable. When those around you are hot, you’ll be the cool breeze. When they are cold, you are the sun. And you’ll be the rain when they are thirsty, too. GEMINI (May 21-June 21) In some way you feel that you have to do more than others in order to gain the same amount of success. Perhaps you feel you must make up for a perceived defi cit, or maybe you just use a different scale to measure things. Whatever the reason, you’ll win far more success because of your high standards. CANCER (June 22-July 22) You may be a tad out of step with your loved ones. So if you happen to be ecstatic about a decision they fi nd less than pleasing, don’t worry about it. They may never fully get on board, but by the end of the week, this won’t be such a big deal. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) Loyalty is a quality you strive to uphold through thick and thin. But when things are crazy-good, you’re needed, too. It’s just harder to see it. A wave of success is coming. Bond with loved ones so you can ride it together. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) If you are very great and powerful, you will be dogged with questions and requests. People will depend on you constantly and will be angry if you do not deliver. It is a huge responsibility, and even the part that’s fun and games becomes a lot of work. Still, if you’re up to it, you should do it. You will make a difference. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 23) Unlike so many ce- lebrities, you have not offered your life choices up to the media for scrutiny in exchange for an indiscriminate amount of attention. And yet you seem to be very much in the public eye now, and people are talking. Make light of the social commentary. SCORPIO (Oct. 24-Nov. 21) A new interest is starting to take up more of your time than anticipated. There is something of value to be explored here, though at this point you would be hard-pressed to fi nd a scale by which to weigh its worth. Bottom line: If it makes you happy, it’s good. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) Your astrological symbol is half human, half beast. Part of you is wild and cannot be tamed. Let yourself do the inappropriate thing once in a while (and probably more often this week) to prevent a major revolt down the line. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) The kind of power play you want to attract is not so easy to get to know. Form a strategy. What would make your project more appealing? What’s in it for the other guy? AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) The one who comes just in time to help you is a true friend. This may be a stranger, but the timely support of this person will join you in an inexplicable way. You may never see this person again, but you’ll always have the moment. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) No amount of money can make you immune to the bother- some realities of mankind. Even billionaires deal with poor customer service and computer malfunctions. That’s why if you can fl ow with events and maintain your charming, easy-going personality, you are richer than Midas in all the ways that count. By Holiday Mathis A House Not So Divided ADVICE GODDESS Rivals and Departures I’ve been dating a guy I really like for a month. He’s been in a long-distance relationship with a woman since last spring. They spend a week together every couple of months, and were off and on for a few years prior. She’s coming to visit for three weeks next month, and afterward, they plan to part for good, as she’ll be working in another country. I want to be mature about this, but if he wants a relationship with me (he says he does), I don’t understand this big romantic last hurrah with her. He says it’s unfortunate timing, and he has to have this goodbye fl ing, as it’s been planned for a long time. I’m feeling like the consolation prize and question his level of interest in me. Am I being an unreasonable princess? — Upset This guy may like you plenty and 3006 Bragg Blvd. Fayetteville, NC 910.323.1791 ALL TEAM SPORTS Mention this ad and receive 20% OFF* your next team purchase. *Restrictions apply. “TWO are better than ONE” 5613 Rockfish Road Hope Mills, NC 910.609.1791 (c)2010, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved. SEPTEMBER 1-7, 2010 UCW 23 may make some very relationshippy sounds, but he’s had tickets to Sexa- palooza 2010 for quite some time, and he isn’t about to rip them up. You’re gambling he’ll decide you’re so fab that he will, and he’s gambling you’ll decide he’s so fab that you’ll pledge to wait for him and wave a little temporary good- bye: “Good luck! Have fun! Try not to catch anything!” You could give him an ultimatum — either he gets his man-paw out of the long-distance cookie jar or you’re history. If you take this tack, be prepared to walk — and to turn your head and notice, to your disappointment, that nobody’s running after you. Should you decide to just suck it up and do some- thing else (or someone else) while he’s on his three-week sexcation, be prepared to fi nd yourself feeling less than loving and charitable toward him upon his re- turn. Waiting around also sets up a really bad power dynamic — making it clear that you’re okay with being the B-Team: You’re on the bench, some other woman’s in the bed, and you’re hoping against hope that she’ll sprain something. You want to be mature about this? Amy Alkon Great! Admit what you’ve known all along: this guy’s a catch with a catch, and you’re suffering because you’ve been acting like he’s available when he’s only available-ish. In light of that, the wisest approach is probably breaking up now, letting time pass, and seeing how you both feel in the future. If you feel like trying again, fi nd out why they called it quits: whether they aren’t compatible on a day-to-day basis, or whether it’s just that Southwest doesn’t fl y wherever it is she went to, I dunno, collect yak scat. Sure, you want to be the chosen one, but not because he suddenly fi nds himself in the mood for a lower carbon footprint and more leg room.