Idiots

`The Idiots' 1/2 Grace Quek is a 27-year-old woman who, in 1995, using the pseudonym Annabel Chong (a combination of Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee" and comedian Tommy Chong), earned her 15 minutes of fame by having sex with 251 men in 10 hours - apparently a world record. Quek's sojourn to the outer limits of sex became a monster-selling video, landed her a guest spot on "The Jerry Springer Show" and even got her into a debate at Cambridge University. She actively participated in making "Sex: The Annabel Chong Story," documentary filmmaker Gough Lewis' unflinching but ultimately unenlightening attempt at figuring out just what she was thinking.

“American Idiot,” the 2010 Broadway hit musical - the first punk rock opera, really - now at the Hippodrome, paints a searing portrait of restless, reckless youth, with all the sex, drugs and violence you'd expect from a disaffected generation. That the show also manages to be entertaining and exhilarating just bumps up the cool factor, which is already considerable, given that the music is by the popular band Green Day and drawn from the 2004 album “American Idiot.” Front man Billie Joe Armstrong collaborated on the book with Maryland native Michael Mayer, who directs the production with the same dynamic touch he brought to another hit musical about young angst, “Spring Awakening.” The unfocused “kids of war and peace” in “American Idiot,” kids who are “born and raised by hypocrites,” can't stand the make-believe world of suburbia where they feel trapped.

"You know, even idiots grow up." Theo Epstein Boston general manager, on the Red Sox's image "Even the most well-stocked hardware store runs out of duct tape and baling wire every so often, and that might be the case for the heretofore resourceful Patriots." Len Pasquarelli Of ESPN.com "I've got to give Melo the `best summer' award. He's been in the gym with our coaches as much as anybody. He's listened." George Karl Denver Nuggets coach, on Carmelo Anthony

Michael Mayer knows a thing or two about coming of age. The Maryland-born director won a Tony Award for his work guiding the 2006 Broadway hit "Spring Awakening," which chronicles teens getting a grip on their budding sexuality. In 2010, he directed "American Idiot," a punk rock musical based on the Green Day album of that name, which follows a group of cynical, spent youths as they seek excitement in a big city. Mayer didn't just direct the latter, but collaborated on the book with Green Day front man Billie Joe Armstrong.

Look at what the idiotic Democrats and Republicans are doing in Washington about the budget problems. They are making a big deal about 12 percent of the federal budget and trying to make the public think they are doing their job. What disgusting idiots. What about the 47 percent of the budget that is growing daily? I'm referring, of course, to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But the morons we elected are only willing to look at things like Head Start and PBS. No wonder I'm registered as an independent.

Road is Paved With IdiotsThe February issue of Smithsonian magazine has a great advertisement from Isuzu with the caption, "The road is paved with idiots." How appropriate when considering all the rhetoric about changing the speed limit on certain Maryland highways.The issue is not always speed but about the selfish, dangerous and often foolish manner in which drivers . . . operate their vehicles.I write from experience as I drive an average of 3,000 miles per month on our various roads and highways because of business.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida. -- The power of an informed mind can be frightening, especially to those who have chosen to live their lives in knowledge-free zones -- and insist the rest of us rot there as well.People for the American Way, in its ninth annual report on censorship in public schools, entitled ''Attacks on the Freedom to Learn,'' documents 229 cases of attempted censorship state-by-state. This figure represents the highest number of incidents in the history of the report, a 33 percent increase over last year.

Perhaps the clearest indication that lobbyist Jack Abramoff inhabited an ethical no-man's-land devoid of conscience was the contempt with which he privately described the Indian tribes he bilked out of $20 million in fraudulent fees. Chortling in e-mails about the "monkeys," "morons" and "idiots" he duped in his "Gimme Five" scam that pitted the gambling interests of various tribes against each other, Mr. Abramoff revealed that his rapid rise to become one of the most powerful lobbyists on Capitol Hill was charted without interference from a moral compass.

TED WILLIAMS once suggested that hitting a baseball was the hardest thing to do in sports. But hitting a baseball isn't as hard as ignoring idiots in the stands who are calling you names while you try to do your job. That is tough. Players don't get to practice it, as they do other aspects of their craft. Managers and coaches can't teach the fundamentals, imparting tips culled from years of experience. The players are out there on their own and under orders not to succumb to the anger that might swell inside them.

During the Boston Red Sox's historic title run of 2004, crusty first baseman Kevin Millar was one of the ringleaders of the "bunch of idiots" who created the happy-go-lucky clubhouse chemistry that helped the team deal with the pressure of trying to overcome an 86-year world title drought. Millar was credited with the unofficial club motto - Cowboy Up! - and became the scruffy face of the Sox, even though there were plenty of bigger stars to fill the spotlight. The Orioles can only hope that he will have the same positive influence on their clubhouse, since they tried a variation on the "bunch of idiots" concept in 2005 and it didn't go quite so well.

I find it horrible that dirt bike riders in the city are allowed to get away with the things they get away with ("Dirt bikers no victims of racism," April 29). As an average citizen, I would be ticketed in a minute for speeding, driving in between cars, running red lights, etc. But these riders do whatever they want, and I've seen police officers sitting in their cars letting it happen. I can tell you right now, if they ever tried to surround my car, I would barrel them over fearing for my life.

It is amusing and ironic that pop singer Adam Levine should be talking about "the decay of Western civilization" (Celebrities, Dec. 4). He is himself an icon of what journalist Carl Bernstein once described as "the idiot culture. " For the first time in our history, the weird, the stupid and the coarse are becoming not just the norm but our cultural ideal. Thomas F. McDonough, Towson Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

If you have ever spilled a cup of coffee onto your computer keyboard, you need to listen to this recording of 98 Rock's morning team as it reacts to Mickey Cucchiella after he knocked a cup of coffee onto the console in the station's studio Friday morning. The station was off the air for 20 minutes, according to the show hosts. I called Dave Hill, program director for 98 Rock and WBAL-AM, Friday afternoon about 3 p.m. in connection with another story -- WBAL's coverage of two big trials this week.

The Sun owes an apology to its readers for publishing Garry Trudeau's idiotic attempt at being funny in his "Doonesbury" comic strip on state abortion laws. It was a jab at all those who have some morals and religious convictions, no matter what their political views. It would have been better for you to have published the comments of Howard Stern. You are getting pretty hard to take with your biased, one-sided view of current events. Check out your own What Maryland Thinks polls, where 90 percent of the time readers disagree with you. John Rutkowski, Rock Hall

I agree with whoever wrote the episode title. Let's start fresh this week, shall we? I'd like to pretend last week didn't happen. In that case, I don't know why Salani keeps talking about needing to capitalize on the fact that they have seven people when they should only have six. You have to wonder if the producers wish last week didn't happen either, as tonight's episode kicks off with switching up the tribes. They also apparently really liked the egg-smashing thing from last season, as they're making everybody do it this week.

What in the heck is wrong with our city schools? Your almost half page story about Western High School commencement policy ( "Western to review commencement policy" May 17) indicates there are some idiots in charge. Denial of the commencement right only because of post-graduate intentions, i.e., attending a four year college, borders on elitism, snobbery, whatever else one chooses to call it. It is also unconstitutional. If one attends four years and gets a lot of C's in the process but has passed all subjects, he/she is entitled to graduate with a formal commencement like everyone else.

I didn't see the approaching storm when I wrote a recent Read Street post about Stephen King's critique of Stephenie Meyer, author of the immensely popular Twilight series. As you may have heard, he said in an interview with USA Weekend: "[J.K.] Rowling is a terrific writer and Stephenie Meyer can't write worth a darn. She's not very good." (He also skewered James Patterson, ran hot and cold on Dean Koontz and praised Jodi Picoult, but no one seemed to notice.) Nancy warned me that posting his comments would unleash a torrent of fury from fans of Meyer's teenage vampire saga.

A man accused of auto manslaughter was playing "follow the leader" or "leapfrog" with two motorists along Route 140 when one of them struck and killed a Westminster woman, his attorney said yesterday during the first day of a jury trial.In his opening statement, J. Barry Hughes, representing Frederick H. Hensen Jr., 21, of Westminster, told jurors that his client was playing the game with two men -- one of whom is also on trial in Carroll Circuit Court -- between Westminster and Finksburg on June 1.Mark E. Eppig, 22, of Westminster lost control, crossed the median and slammed into a green Mitsubishi, instantly killing its driver, Geraldine Lane "Geri" Wu, 42, a middle school teacher.

Look at what the idiotic Democrats and Republicans are doing in Washington about the budget problems. They are making a big deal about 12 percent of the federal budget and trying to make the public think they are doing their job. What disgusting idiots. What about the 47 percent of the budget that is growing daily? I'm referring, of course, to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. But the morons we elected are only willing to look at things like Head Start and PBS. No wonder I'm registered as an independent.

By the time you read this, Terry Jones will have burned the Quran. Or not. At deadline time, Mr. Jones' so-called "International Burn The Quran Day" — also known as Sept. 11, 2010, the ninth anniversary of the terrorist attacks — was on hold. He said he'd reached an agreement with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf not to go through with plans to make a bonfire of Qurans if Mr. Rauf would cancel plans to build a mosque near ground zero. Mr. Rauf said this was news to him, whereupon Mr. Jones said he'd now have to "rethink" whether to go ahead with the burning.