Built by slaveholders as a celebration of equality, the United States is a messy, imperfect place but one well worth fighting for, argues this once-and-again Mississippian.
Under the guise of leaving no child behind, Congress quietly passed two Education Bill amendments this summer that would leave more minority and disabled kids without services -- and deny families legal recourse.
It was a double insult, but not much of a surprise. First the New York Times failed to cover youth violence in an unbiased, accurate way. Then they refused to listen to the youth who organized to call them on it. Luckily, when Youth Force and the folks who put together the study, "In Between the Lines, How the New York Times Frames Youth" didn't get the respect they deserved, Donna Ladd was there to cover it for the Village Voice.
Florida is the ultimate American state, a crossroads of everything quirky, blissful, sexy, inspiring, annoying, bigoted and dangerous we face as a country. How fitting that it should host our cultural showdown.
God, how do you write a column while the country is mired in a presidential who-wun-it with news changing by the hour? My choice: State the obvious: The country is divided between urban and rural values.
Posted on Nov 7, 2000, Source: Silicon Alley Reporter
"These days, like children being called "chicken" on the playground, we’re routinely admonished to "get over" our fears of unbridled technology. But even as a (reluctant) geek, I am not so idolatrous of technology that I can advocate an anything-goes world."
"I cannot join the Green Party -- yet. I must play the hand I'm dealt. I am passionately concerned about abortion rights and minority discrimination (including gay rights and hate crimes). I do not want the environment offered as a ritual sacrifice to oil companies in three months."
Bush and Gore haven't gotten loud about anything that's going to annoy the vaunted tech industry. Add to that the tech companies' newfound donation largesse this season and it becomes obvious why even the Democrats are throwing softballs toward Silicon Valley.
Posted on Sep 19, 2000, Source: Silicon Alley Reporter
In the New Selfish Economy entrepreneurs-du-jour want to turn a million by sundown, corporate interests try to profit off content while bilking the creators, and college students get widespread empathy for what would be considered simple theft offline.
An internal document recently leaked by an unnamed Victoria's Secret insider, and posted online by the Smoking Gun, has the lingerie company's thong in a twist. Victoria's Secret's attorneys' reaction should strike fear in the hearts of cyberjournalists, who, unfettered by the space constraints of print, have made a practice of posting online documents by the ton.
Want a shock to your sensibilities? Visit www.incest.com, which features two doors, one leading to lewd photos ostensibly of "family sex" and another to resources for incest victims.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice hosts a meticulous chronicle of death row trivia that seems to capture the vengeful pride of the state that leads the country in executing its citizens. It is an omen of sorts, to show how far is too far.
George W. Bush just won't let GWBush.com die. It's as if he wants as many people as possible to go to the parody site and buy a "G.W. Bush: Not a Crackhead Anymore" T-shirt.
The extreme nature of the debate over Internet privacy terrifies me. Some journalists remind me of NRA paranoids on this issue: Give 'em an AK-47, and they'll take our hunting rifles.
"Despite inevitable violations, we need journalistic standards -- which are often ignored in self-published reports on the Internet, or in bogus statements passed by e-mail. Of course we need 'gatekeeping' -- but where should it come from, and is 'self-gatekeeping' possible? Increasingly, our gatekeepers are operating under a corporate umbrella, whether America Online, Microsoft, Disney or a daily newspaper comglomerate."
More of my male friends communicate with me online -- and proudly disseminate their love for their families with photo collages and links to personal Web sites -- than their female counterparts.
Posted on May 17, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
Days after the Littleton tragedy, Donna Ladd saw something in CompUSA that turned her stomach: piles of adult-rated, violent computer games such as Doom, Quake and Redneck Rampage on sale -- in the kids' section. Why don't mega-retailers such as CompUSA, Target and Media Play abide by the self-imposed video game rating systems? And why won't the software giants stop marketing violent crap to kids?
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
"School homicides decreased 40 percent from 1997 to 1999; all at-school crimes dropped 29 percent. Yet school districts and police continue to target innocent or rambunctious or Ritalin-soaked or Prozac-whacked or unpopular or Goth or rap-obsessed or black-wearing kid to be suspended, expelled, ridiculed, branded, handcuffed, jailed or otherwise abused. Have adults gone hog mad?"
Wish you could protest the IMF in Washington on April 16, but just can't get there? Don't worry -- just join the thousands surfing the wave of vocal dissent on the Net.
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
Some factions, both pro- and anti-gay, have accused the StopDrLaura.com organizers of trying to "censor" Dr. Laura. That is misinformed: Unless the government is involved in some way, her First Amendment freedoms are not being challenged. Argue if you will that she has the right to say whatever she wants, and lobby in favor of her television show, but don't trot out the "censorship" bogeyman.
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
"Technology can be a ball and chain. Our high-speed laptops, PDAs and digital phones make it difficult to convince ourselves, and often our clients, that we need time off, too. The moral is simple: Turn off the damned computer and live. It'll still be there when the sun sets -- and when it rises."
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
"They got to her. Dr. Laura Schlessinger -- the radio talk show queen who has shown a particular disdain for homosexuals, often referring to them as biological errors -- has taken all of her anti-gay comments off her Web site after a group of prominent homosexual activists threatened to fight the upcoming Dr. Laura TV show."
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
"Many states are trying to figure out creative ways to force public institutions to censor Internet content. Arizona, California and Michigan recently passed filtering laws. But who's to say what is 'obscene'? Bare boobs? Penises? Penises with no boobs in sight? A breast self-exam? A photo of Botticelli's Venus? Or, how about a black man hanging by his neck, something I recently saw on a white 'racialist' site?"
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
"A Colorado bill, closely watched by other states, may put limits on unwanted e-mail. But requiring businesses and nonprofit groups to label unsolicited mail as advertising ('Adv') in its subject line and to give recipients an 'opt-out' option does nothing to defray user and ISP costs of all the crap that lands in our e-mail boxes."
Posted on Apr 1, 2000, Source: Colorado Springs Independent
The U.S. Secret Service recently condemned Mosaic 2000, a student-profiling software program that supposedly can sort out "troubled" students from the average high-schooler.
