grist for the mill

Boston.com / A

"White men run Hollywood, and when they see industrial fans blowing Beyoncé's hair extensions while she wags her hips and emits her police-siren vocals, a cash register drawer pops open. She doesn't seem capable of acting her way into a paper bag, but it's easy to cast her and her clones (hi, Christina Milian and Ashanti) because their ubiquity on BET and MTV make them preapproved for movie audiences. Meanwhile: Angela Bassett and Alfre Woodard, where are you?"

Add Racism, Dishonesty to McPhail's Resume - 3/10/05: "It's hard to say whether Sharon McPhail is a racist or just plain stupid. But for sure, she's a liar.

Harsh words, yes. But there's no way to sugar-coat the Detroit councilwoman's character lapses. To do so would be a disservice to the voters of Detroit, who will see McPhail's name on their mayoral ballot this fall."

McPhail: Denial an 'unfortunate choice of words' - 03/15/05: "I take strong exception, however, to the tone of Thursday's Detroit News editorial ('Add Racism, Dishonesty to McPhail's Resume,' March 10), in which I am referred to as a 'liar' and a 'racist.' Those who know me know those characterizations couldn't be further from the truth.

To suggest I am a racist flies in the face of all my efforts to fight for the rights of all people. My personal life is an example of my belief that there is only one race -- human."

The 2003 Blackout - Reference and Analysis

Kung Fu Monkey: "Will of the People": "As of this month, going by the latest Quinnipac and CBS polls, recognition of SOME sort of legal agreement between gays comes in around 45-50% now -- using the word 'marriage' changes the numbers considerably, showing again the power of semantics. More tellingly, support for a Constitutional Amendment banning even marriage (the hot button word getting the biggest negative response) barely clears 40% in most polls. What does this indicate? What opposition there is, it's not as deep as it is broad. So, while one can argue either side of the issue, it's not so far out in the land of bizarre-o that the courts are breaking basic social construct by tackling the issue.

However ...

... when the Supreme Court struck down the bans against interracial marriage in 1968 through Virginia vs. Loving, SEVENTY-TWO PERCENT of Americans were against interracial marriage. As a matter of fact, approval of interracial marriage in the US didn't cross the positive threshold until -- sweet God -- 1991"

A CRITICAL LOOK AT DETROIT: 2 filmmakers team up to scrutinize the city block by block: "Woiquart concludes that what had happened to Detroit is 'not a natural process.' Various level of government allowed the city's decay to take place over the years, he said, adding that if Detroit had remained majority white, such abandonment would have been addressed"

NASA World Wind: "World Wind lets you zoom from satellite altitude into any place on Earth. Leveraging Landsat satellite imagery and Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data, World Wind lets you experience Earth terrain in visually rich 3D, just as if you were really there."

MSNBC - Blogging Beyond the Men's Club: "So why, when millions of blogs are written by all sorts of people, does the top rung look so homogeneous? It appears that some clubbiness is involved. [Halley] Suitt puts it more bluntly: 'It's white people linking to other white people!' (A link from a popular blog is this medium's equivalent to a Super Bowl ad.) Suitt attributes her own high status in the blogging world to her conscious decision to 'promote myself among those on the A list.'"

McPhail awards mayor with slur: "Sharon McPhail, the Detroit City Council member who is running for mayor, participated in a so-called Sambo awards ceremony last month that used the racial epithet to mock her opponent, Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, and other black leaders."

"The Call 'Em Out Coalition voted the coveted 'Sambo Sell-Out of the Year' trophy - decked out with a red SUV, Barbie doll strippers, and big bucks - to Kilpatrick, with Bing getting a surprise second place ribbon. Burnley was honored for his 'lifetime achievement.'"

State teacher commission probes wound-licking practice by coach - The Register-Guard, Eugene, Oregon, USA: "Reed remains a dean of students, science teacher and head football coach at the high school after being disciplined last year for licking the bleeding knee of an athlete. He acknowledged the May 2004 incident during school district and police investigations of another parent's complaint that he had licked blood from several students. " - ew

Insult of Thomas sparks protests: "In a recent column, Coulter writes about the controversy over whether it's too easy to get media access to the White House.
'Press passes can't be that hard to come by if the White House allows that old Arab Helen Thomas to sit within yards of the president,' wrote Coulter, who once argued the United States should invade Muslim countries and 'convert them to Christianity.'"

The New York Review of Books: Welcome to Doomsday: "I read the news and learned how the Environmental Protection Agency plotted to spend $9 million?$2 million of it from the President's friends at the American Chemistry Council?to pay poor families to continue the use of pesticides in their homes. These pesticides have been linked to neurological damage in children, but instead of ordering an end to their use, the government and the industry concocted a scheme to offer the families $970 each, as well as a camcorder and children's clothing, to serve as guinea pigs for the study. "

High-tech hunting: Site lets you shoot game from home: "Welcome to the controversial union of modern technology and game hunting. It's called Live-Shot.com, and it's operated by San Antonio body-shop estimator John Lockwood. The Web site allows anyone with Internet access and a mouse to hunt and target shoot by remote control, all in real time.
For Lockwood, it's a way to open up hunting to people who can't or won't walk into the woods with a shotgun or rifle."