1. I would like to endorse this post by Xicano Power and, although I am too tired to write anything very original about the issue, to add my voice to those supporting Kathy Sierra, the blogger who received the death threats, and criticizing the Daily Kos for being dismissive of her situation. I am glad … More On Sophistry
1. Anyone who persists in believing we have achieved a “color blind” society in the United States should read this article by Patricia J. Williams. A fertility clinic used sperm other than the planned father’s to create a child. They used African-descended sperm, to be exact. The family already had such DNA on one side, … More On Pseudo-Intelligence
1. The Friends Committee on National Legislation says: FCNL’s budget team calculates that 41 cents out of every dollar that you pay in 2006 federal income taxes before April 17 goes to the military – to pay for both current and past military activities. That figure is the clearest reflection of how the federal government … More Your Tax Dollars
This evening as I attempted to track down certain modern Faroese poems, I discovered that the language of the Shetland Islands was called Norn, and that it greatly resembled Faroese. I came upon this English-Norn vocabulary list, gathered from informants in 1774: Foula,… … Fugla or Uttrie An Island,… … Hion. Bread,… … Coust. Oat … More Norn
Joanna found this article at the Black Electorate, and everyone should read it. Some near random snippets: Among American Conservatives, of any race, it has become a common practice to make derisive reference to so-called “race hustlers”, “racial arsonists”, “shakedown artists”, and “professional victicrats.” The usual targets include Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan. … More On “Race Hustlers”
In underreported news: 1. There is a complicated civil war taking place in northern Uganda. Children at risk of being pressed into unpleasant service by the Lord’s Resistance Army (see also this piece , and this one) have to hide at night, and are thus known as “night commuters.” There were peace talks and hopes … More Night Commuters
Descanse en paz. There has been a video made in memory of Mr. Fuentealba which documents events leading up to his death, and Página 12 published an article chronicling his life. He grew up in the vicinity of San Martín de los Andes, which is in Patagonia. Our music for this piece of news will … More Carlos Fuentealba
Le Colonel Chabert leads us to the Cultural Parody Center, which in turn leads us to the documentary Yugoslavia: The Avoidable War, Parts I and II. It is fascinating and I hasten to call attention to it although I have not even finished watching it. The Cultural Parody Center quotes from the NYT review of … More On the Former Yugoslavia
I have spoken today with someone who still converses every night with the ghosts of the Viet Cong he killed. And every so often I hear a moving speech by an American who has visited Auschwitz and has contemplated the horror. Misanthropic or perhaps envious of such imagined innocence, I think it is very easy … More After 1945
[I]nstead of sending Town to a medical board and discharging him because of his injuries, doctors at Fort Carson, Colorado . . . claimed Town’s wounds were actually caused by a “personality disorder.” Town was then booted from the Army and told that under a personality order discharge, he would never receive disability or medical … More Supporting the Troops
coldhearted scientist وداد 