dubya's boo-boo & other issues....

this port takeover/controversy thing is funny to me. i guess dubya thought that some cold cash would override good old american racism and xenophobia.

oops.

the conspiracy theorist in me says one thing. the generally sane-thinking person says another. neither of them likes it, however. not because i think arabs = bad, but because i think that if something were to happen, this setup is far too convenient for comfort. and we'd wind up mired in more isolationism, more lies, and more bullshit, while compromising our position in the world even further.

~~~

just found this article via a discussion on okayplayer. i'm just gonna let it speak for itself:

Kenyona J. Moore was appalled when her 9-year-old son brought a worksheet home from Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Elementary School last week called "The Four Robbers." It describes how to do a card trick while telling the story of four people who rob a house and get away with it.

The worksheet is designed to prepare children for next month's state standardized tests, but Moore saw it as promoting criminal activity to children growing up in a crime-ridden Baltimore neighborhood northwest of downtown. "This is being given out to inner-city children," she said. "The assumption is they can relate to this, and that's wrong."

and, towards the end of the article:

When Moore talked to her son, Musthapha Muhammad, about the assignment, she said he told her: "I don't wanna rob a house, Mommy." She said the underlying message of the worksheet to inner-city children is, "This is all you'll be able to do anyway."

ugh.