Free Republic

PORTLAND, Ore. - The exclusion of the Pledge of Allegiance from a southwest Portland elementary school's ceremony has proved upsetting for a local mom. Departing fifth-graders at Capitol Hill Elementary usually open their promotion ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance - but not this year. "I was sad," said parent Briana Reese. "The flag was sitting up there, you know. Two of the kids went up and they said 'Everybody rise,' and we rose, and I thought for just a second 'Oh yeah, we're going to put our hands on our hearts and we're going to salute the flag' -...

[Geraldine Ferraro is correct in saying that she, as well as minorities in general, get a boost in Democrat Party for being female, black, and transgendered, I might add.] From http://a9.g.akamai.net/7/9/8082/v001/democratic1.download.akamai.com/8082/pdfs/2008delegateselectionrules.pdf 2008 Delegate Selection Rules for the Democratic National Convention 5.. NNOONN--DDIISSCCRRIIMMIINNAATTIIOONN A. In order that the Democratic Party at all levels be an open Party which includes rather than excludes people from participation, a program of effective affirmative action is hereby adopted. B. Discrimination on the basis of "status" in the conduct of Democratic Party affairs is prohibited. C. In order to continue the Democratic Party’s ongoing efforts to...

President Bush sounded like he hoped to sever ties with the remaining 30 percent who like him when he went after critics in his party this week over opposition to his latest immigration plan. "If you want to scare the American people, what you say is the bill's an amnesty bill," Bush said during a stop in Glynco, Ga. "That's empty political rhetoric, trying to frighten our citizens." It was his harshest public backhand yet to the conservative bloggers, commentators, politicians and CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, all gassing about how the bill amounts to amnesty. "People shouldn't fear our capacity...

What is the underlying conviction of the European countries managing to establish a political and economical union of 500 million citizens? The leading voices of the EU itself seem to believe it all boils down to PC declarations. An alternative assertion to European strength consisting in thoughtless PC gaiety would be the immense, unsurpassed European contribution to the development of Technology, Science and the depiction of Man and his life here upon Earth as interpreted by the Humanist ideals stemming from The Renaissance and Antiquity. The EU comission article: "Federal Minister von der Leyen: "The Strength of Europe is its...

American students often get the impression from history classes that the British got here first, settling Jamestown, Va., in 1607. They hear about how white Northerners freed the black slaves, how Asians came in the mid-1800s to build Western railroads. The lessons have left out a lot. Forty-two years before Jamestown, Spaniards and American Indians lived in St. Augustine, Fla. At least several thousand Latinos and nearly 200,000 black soldiers fought in the Civil War. And Asian-Americans had been living in California and Louisiana since the 1700s. Now, more of these and other lesser-known facts about American minorities are getting...

America's growing diversity has reached nearly every state. From South Carolina's budding immigrant population to the fast-rising number of Hispanics in Arkansas, minority groups make up an increasing share of the population in every state but one, according to figures released Tuesday by the Census Bureau. "This is just an extraordinary explosion of diversity all across the United States," said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. "It's diversity and immigration going hand in hand." West Virginia is the exception, with its struggling economy and little history of attracting immigrants. (See state-by-state comparisons) Frey said...

A devout Muslim, Lallia Allali was drawn to the Girl Scouts because it shares many of the values of her religion, such as an emphasis on moral character, service and charity. That's why about two years ago, Allali founded three Muslim Girl Scout troops at the Islamic Center of San Diego, the largest mosque in San Diego County, where her husband is the imam. “In Girl Scouts, it teaches you to be confident. In Islam, it says you should be confident and never give up,” said Layla Elmi, 10, who attends school at the Islamic Center. “You can be friends...

I believe I lost it. I believe I yelled. It was in an empty room, so no animals were harmed in the making of that yell, but still. I felt frustrated. And you know what's really good when you're feeling frustrated? Remembering that you have a newspaper column. Last year the Ford Motor Co. started to buy ads in several publications aimed at gay readers. They did so, one presumes, because they realized that gay people buy automobiles, and Ford has, alas, not been selling many automobiles lately. Then the company got assaulted by the American Family Association, a creation...

I have been following the dilemma at The New York Times. I'm sure most people know by now that a reporter, Jayson Blair, was fired for fabricating and plagiarizing many stories. From news reports, it appears that Times editors knew about his deficiencies long before he was fired. The question is: Why wasn't he fired long before ago? Was it his race? Blair is black and, according to some people, minorities are treated by liberals such as The New York Times editors with unusual care under these circumstances. I have read that at least 12 Times editors had access to...

Media Matters May 23, 2003 Did The Times' Diversity Program Fail Jayson Blair? By Jeffrey A. Dvorkin Ombudsman National Public Radio One of the issues around Jayson Blair's disgrace at The New York Times has to do with the awful entanglements around race relations in the workplace. Questions about race and affirmative action are priorities in most newsrooms including NPR. But many news organizations still struggle with finding the right balance among questions of race, opportunity and ability. One of NPR's most distinguished commentators, Marvin Kalb grasped the sharp end of the debate on Morning Edition on May 15th (Commentary:...

APRIL 25, 2003Newspapers to Mark 'Time-Out for Diversity'Several Groups Sponsor Week of Activities By Deborah Kong, AP Minority Issues Writer (AP) With special reporting assignments, training sessions and critiques of their own newspapers, journalists across the country will begin a weeklong effort Monday to focus on diversity in their coverage. The premise of Time-Out for Diversity and Accuracy, now in its fifth year, is that a newspaper cannot be accurate unless it fully reflects the community it serves. Newspaper newsrooms and Associated Press bureaus around the country are participating in the project, a joint project of the Associated Press...