I know race has been a recurring theme this summer, but I found this LA Times story fascinating–not just because it details “the only recorded instance in U.S. history in which black men stood trial for a mob lynching,” but because of the light it sheds on the volatile topic of reparations.

Are they as controversial as, say, Affirmative Action? Are these events a microcosm of America “coming full circle” over the past 60 years? Are they merely symbolic, or will they help set a refreshingly new tone for U.S. race relations in the 2000s?

I never meet face-to-face with Bloomington’s more radical political entities, however, my car has enjoyed that distinct pleasure. Three times.

I sport a McCain bumper sticker (at least, I try to). But it has been torn off my car twice, and the third reincarnation has been defaced with a sloppily written “fuck” on it. Apparently, the intended message is “fuck” John McCain 08. Who says poetry has to rhyme?

Personally, I prefer it defaced. It doesn’t speak well of the opposition, supposedly rabid defenders of such organizations as the ACLU, who refuse my simple privilege of voicing my support for The Good Senator. Either way, my car now not only tells you who you should vote for, but why.

This isn’t the first time Facebook has felt obligated to quell rivalry. The creators of Harvard-based “ConnectU” were among the first to attack Facebook’s creator, Mark Zuckerberg, for simply taking their idea and running with it to make millions.

Now, the German networking site “studiVZ” has earned itself a lawsuit from Facebook for “copying … entire portions of the site’s design.” Whether these accusations are well-founded, or the iconic blue-and-white chunk of cyberspace is just defending its own monopolistic dominion, we’ll have to wait and see.

The German magazine Der Spiegel quoted Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki supporting Obama’s planned withdrawal of American troops within 16 months upon his possible inauguration in Jan. 2009. The White House contacted Maliki’s office, which publicly characterized the remarks as “mistranslated.” The magazine, however, insists they got it right.

Is Maliki’s PR Team simply adding insult to injury through this equivocating gesture? The world has reason to believe Maliki reluctant to join hands with Bush again on a belabored “general time horizon” for drawing down troops. Just look at the man’s face.

Yes, changing the name of a game from Beer Pong to Pong Toss was apparently all it took for JV Games to turn the popular college past-time into a video game that scooted by with a rating of “T” (as in suitable for teens 13 and up) from the Entertainment Software Rating Board. Obviously this digital simulation of what goes in the basements of most college students has made a lot of people very angry. Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut’s attorney general, suggested that the video game ratings board was itself “under the influence” when it made the decision to allow minors access to the game. We should all be just as angry as Richard because we all know that beer pong is destroying America.

Personally I don’t understand the draw of playing beer pong in video game form. It’s on the Wii so you get to do the throwing motion but Read the rest of this entry »

If a keen eye for satire reflects intelligence plenty of bloggers out there are looking rather silly right now. The image above is the most recent New Yorker cover. Most of you probably realized fairly quickly that this was an attempt to mock some of the more ridiculous rumors being circulated about Barack Obama. Apparently some people thought the cover crossed the line (a Huffington Post article on the subject clocked in with nearly 4,000 comments plenty of which suggested the New Yorker was trying to sabotage Obama’s chances in November).

The fear is that some people wont realize the covers goofiness; thus Obama’s campaign called it “tasteless and offensive”. The only thing I find offensive is the thought that most Americans won’t immediately see the cover for what it is - playful satire. The slower Americans probably aren’t avid New Yorker readers anyways.

Check out this story from the Chronicle about textbook piracy. This is especially concerning:

If the problem worsened, he said, publishers may have to take other steps to prevent piracy, like releasing new versions of most textbooks every semester. The versions could include slight modifications that could be changed easily, like altering the numbers in math problems.

Now, I suppose they have to do something, but changing the versions more often? Should they do a better job of going after those who pirate the technology, lower the price to appease them, or what?

Last week, Columbia freed a group of more than a dozen hostages without firing a bullet. They did this through terrific intelligence and intimate familiarity with the group in question. Their President has repeatedly demonstrated he will not negotiate with terrorists, and has instead chased them down through infiltrating their organization. We could learn a little bit about their approach to terrorism.

Which is why it doesn’t make sense that we have refused the latest deal on Columbian Free Trade. They’re our biggest ally in South America (a place where we need all the allies we can get) and our countries have a remarkable amount in common with each other, not just in our counter-terrorist activities.

What do you think? Should we work better to realize the benefits of a strong relationship with Columbia? Is their experience with FARC something we could apply towards Al-Qaeda or The Taliban? Or is Free Trade with Columbia too expensive to America?

Add your comments.

Three major conservative idealogues of the past half-century have passed away this year in an eerie progression: William F. Buckley, Jr. (27 Feb.), Charlton Heston (5 April) and now former Senator Jesse Helms (R-NC) on July 4th.

With the ascension of Barack Obama to national political prominence, the LA Times notes, his passing may symbolize the decline of an era fraught with racial tension, if not the narrowing of divisions among the American people on social issues like gay marriage and abortion.

The Helms-Burton Act of 1996 placed an embargo on Communist Cuba under Fidel Castro. He also worked to curb the popularity of Roe v. Wade in the 1970s. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s about time the New York Times recognized that this race to the White House will be shaped more than ever by You-Tube and bloggers on the advertising front.

I mean how many college students really watch television or would be influenced by the sort of adds run with the 5 o’clock news? TV is so passe!