- Why I am an amoral, family-hating monster…and Newt Gingrich isn’t : Pharyngula
- I don't condemn Gingrich for getting divorced, since it just means that so far he has managed to make a couple of women very happy twice.
[The awesome cannot be summarized. Read it all. -L]
- Two Angry Teachers Rap About Being Fired By LAUSD
- In a YouTube video named "Two Teachers and a Microphone," two anonymous LAUSD teachers who received pink slips this week explain why they were unfairly fired and encourage local residents to take action against the layoffs. The images are humorous—keep your eyes peeled for famous fictional teachers like Jack Black in School of Rock—but the lyrics are serious: …
Last month, LAUSD sent out more than 5,000 preliminary layoff notices to teachers and employees in the hope that dismissing them could cover severe budget shortfalls. The people who received layoff notices had to be notified by yesterday if their position would be eliminated. Also yesterday, the Los Angeles Board of Education voted to hand over 13 more schools to charter companies, which will only mean more layoffs are on the horizon for teachers.
- Race & the gang rape in Texas
- How could the reporter and editors responsible for the first NYT story on the gang rape in Cleveland, Texas, be so sexist? Because they were trying to avoid appearing racist — at least, that's my best guess.
…Mainstream reporters are not supposed to mention race unless it's essential to a story. The NYT story didn't mention it. …
…Racial tensions between blacks and whites rose last year after a former white mayor pushed to recall three City Council members, all black, over accusations of financial mismanagement. It's not surprising that African-Americans might feel grief and anger over 18 black males arrested …
- The Gang Rape of a Latina 6th Grader, and a Horrific Community Response – COLORLINES
- Until last week I had never heard of Cleveland, Texas, the small town where an 11-year-old Latina was gang raped, allegedly by 18 black males ages 14 to 27.
But since The Houston Chronicle told the victim’s story with compassion and a New York Times piece subtly blamed her; since various news outlets have essentially tried and convicted the suspects with a widely circulated mugshot collage; since Houston New Black Panther leader Quannell X sacrificed the victim in his zeal to raise questions about the police investigation; since Mujeres Unidas checked Quanell X; and since white supremacist Web sites are partying about this tragedy like it’s 1799, tiny Cleveland, has become a major example of how not to deal with rape in our communities.
…No one deserves to be gang raped. No. One. Ever. If you find yourself trying to parse that one out, something is very wrong with you.
[My bookmarks live at delicious.com/camryl. In case it needs to be said: I don't agree with every word of everything I link to. Also, signal boosts are awesome! --L.]
The Of interest (Wed, Mar 16th, 10pm) by Lee Salazar, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Terms and conditions beyond the scope of this license may be available at leesalazar.com.