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Excerpt from the Seattle Public Schools website: Definitions of Racism Cultural Racism: Those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as “other”, different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers. (The complete page can be seen Here

Learning a political lesson —firsthand High school GOP club fights for right to hold assembly By Nanci G. Hutson THE NEWS-TIMES NEW MILFORD — High school junior Chris Fox thought he was being picked on, in part, because he's a Republican. The president of New Milford High's fledgling Young Republican Club wanted to play host to an assembly about the political process during exam week in March. But he got nowhere with school officials. Upset, he took his idea to the school board and found a friendly ear among Republican members. "Personally, I think getting students involved in their political...

As Danish interests around the world suffered a backlash from outraged Muslims, a Ridgefield business flew Denmark’s flag to show support for the small Scandinavian nation. “It’s principally out of solidarity with the Danes and the abuse they’ve taken from the Muslim world,” said Rob Ellis, managing partner of Ridgefield Capital Group, a commodities trading firm. Ridgefield Capital raised the Danish flag — a white cross on a red field — to join the American flag on a pole outside its offices at 63 Copps Hill Road last Friday, Feb. 10. The flag flew until Monday, Feb. 13, when the...

DOHA, February, 15 2006, (IslamOnline.net) – The Norwegian parliament has amended the Penal Code to criminalize blasphemy in the wake of the republication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by a Norwegian magazine, Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway said on Tuesday, February 14. "Law 150-A, which has been approved by parliament, criminalizes blasphemy and clearly prohibits despising others or lampooning religions in any form of expression, including the use of photographs," Norway's Deputy Archbishop Oliva Howika told reporters after a meeting in Doha with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International...

Jyllands-Posten Editor-in-chief Carsten Juste talks openly about the 12 Mohammed cartoons, revealing for the first time how the idea originally came about, and how his newspaper is now dealing with an avalanche of death threats against its staff. Whilst tender some sort of regret to the offended - he remains adamant in affirming the unconditional right to freedom of expression How did the 12 cartoons of Mohammed wind up in Jyllands-Posten on 30 September of this year? 'The public image painted by some observers of sinister Jyllands-Posten editors scheming together to offend as many Muslims as possible - or the...

LONDON (Reuters) - Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO - news) is considering buying the world's top mobile handset maker Nokia (NOK1V.HE) in a bid to gain its wireless infrastructure technology, the Business newspaper reported on Sunday. The paper, which did not reveal the source of its information, said U.S.-based Cisco had traditionally concentrated on acquisitions of niche technology players, but its Chief Executive John Chambers is believed to be interested in merging with a wireless infrastructure company. "Nokia has been identified as the most likely target," the paper said. Cisco, the largest maker of Internet equipment, is worth around $123 billion,...

WATERBURY-- A Connecticut lawmaker is proposing a bill that would violate a seven year old law that prohibits racial profiling in the state. The only difference, the man behind the bill is one of those who would be singled out of the crowd. Selim Noujaim, in his third term representing the 74th district in Waterbury, is a native of Lebanon. In the next session, he plans to propose a bill that would allow police around the state to specifically question people of Middle Eastern descent, as well as other ethnic groups, for the sake of national security. "Regardless of the...

NORWALK -- Randi Vishno was waiting for her blue Honda Pilot at the Splash car wash on Westport Avenue shortly before noon yesterday when she saw it cross the busy thoroughfare without her. The car was empty. Splash workers forgot to jump into the Honda as it left the tracks that take it through the car wash in neutral gear. The sport utility vehicle sideswiped another vehicle in the drying area of Splash, crossed Westport Avenue without hitting any vehicles and rolled down Luffberry Avenue. The car then jumped the curb, broke through some brush and hit a stone wall.

The RCMP complained this week that it had too few qualified recruits last year to replace the number of officers who retired. Applications were off by 28% and only 232 new officers joined, rather than the 300 hoped for. The force attributes the dearth of prospective recruits to competition: There are too many other attractive career choices for young men and women. Its solution? Buy a brightly coloured van and cruise Ontario and Quebec campuses looking for warm bodies; maybe conduct some focus groups to see why young people aren't attracted to RCMP careers. We can save them the trouble...

Consumer Price Index was released this morning. CPI was down 0.1% in May. Treasuries are up slightly. Core CPI was up 0.1%.

The employment report was released today at 8:30 AM. Jobs were up 78,000, well less than consensus. Smallest monthly increase since August 2003. Economists had predicted 185,000 jobs created in May. In April, there were 274,000 jobs created. April figures were not revised. Unemployment is 5.1%

A mathematical study of the US House of Representatives reveals clear partisanship - including stacked committees - within the House. While this may not surprise political analysts, the objective analysis contradicts the US Code, which outlines US laws and suggests a just system in which all legislation receives a fair hearing from politicians who put the country’s interests ahead of their political party’s. The words “non-partisan” and “unbiased” appear frequently in the code. Among the study’s findings is that the membership of the Select Committee on Homeland Security, formed after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, is closely tied...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. antitrust regulators are preparing to sue the National Association of Realtors (NAR) over policies they believe will illegally restrict commission discounting and harm online competitors, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. The effort by the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission aims to protect buyers and sellers of homes and could help contain high real-estate costs in a booming housing market, the newspaper said.

April nonfarm payrolls up better than expected to 274,000. March figures revised up from 110,000 to 146,000. April average hourly earnings highest on record and were up 0.3%

(Hartford-AP, Apr. 9, 2005 10:50 AM) _ Episcopal priests at six churches in Connecticut are being warned they may be removed from their parishes next week because they oppose the church's first openly gay bishop. Bishop Andrew Smith says the priests have, quote, "abandoned the communion of the church." The Hartford Courant reported the story today. The letters were sent to the Rev. Christopher Leighton at St. Paul's Church in Darien; the Rev. Ronald Gauss of Bishop Seabury Church in Groton, the Rev. Gilbert Wilkes of Christ and the Epiphany Church in East Haven, the Rev. Don Helmandollar of Trinity...

Nonfarm payrolls rose 262,000 in Feb 05 vs expectations by Wall St of 225,000

See This Link and you'll see that the CT Broadcasters Association conveniently scheduled a test of the Emergency Alert System on all channels in Connecticut while Bush was being sworn in.

BRUSSEL - In de stad Antwerpen is het verboden om over straat te gaan in een burka, een allesbedekkend gewaad dat sommige islamitische vrouwen dragen. Dagblad Het Laatste Nieuws meldde zaterdag dat de korpschef van de Antwerpse politie dat in samenspraak met de burgemeester heeft vastgelegd. (Excerpt: See Article for complete text (in Dutch).

Vilnius, Lithuania, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus said Wednesday he was happy George W. Bush had been re-elected president of the United States. Speaking on Lithuanian Radio, Adamkus said: "My reaction is very positive because we ourselves know President Bush- - he has demonstrated his highly positive attitude towards Lithuania and exceptional attention to it."

Stupidity news: One of Kerry's electors in Ohio, Rep. Sherrod Brown, is a congressman. Unfortunately, the constitution forbids federal office holders from being electors. It is possible that if Kerry wins Ohio, Brown's right to cast an electoral vote will be challenged in court. Whoever picked a constitutionally ineligible elector needs to get his or her mental software ungraded to the latest release.