Jackblog

Subscribe

Why I Love Feministing

Look at the poster and then read the comments. If you haven't fallen out of your chair by the end of page two, you need a vacation.

"Live in New York?" I'd Recommend It

I surfed over to the C-L's website this morning on the off chance that there was a correction or re-statement of last Saturday's editorial. Didn't find one, which I guess isn't shocking. (To be frank, it is a little shocking. These grown men who purport to be journalists who run the C-L should be ashamed of themselves. Run a damn correction.)

Random Musings

Maybe it's the lack of sunlight this time of year, but my mind is going a million different directions and I can't focus worth squat. Anyone else feeling like this? Anyway, I am going to take this time to list what has been randomly going on in my head lately.

Just click

When I got back from Africa, a lot of people told me they felt like there was nothing they could do. I was so frustrated with myself for not offering better solutions.

Secret Pentagon Study Gives 3 Iraq Options

And none of them are pretty: "injecting more troops into Iraq, shrinking the force but staying longer or pulling out, The Washington Post reported Monday. The newspaper quoted senior defense officials as dubbing the three alternatives 'Go big, go long and go home.' The secret military study was commissioned by Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and comes as political and military leaders struggle with how to conduct a war that is increasingly unpopular, both in the United States and in occupied Iraq."

How Would You Reform Public Education in Mississippi?

The Clarion-Ledger is making a lot of hay out of recent statistics indicating that only 50.6% of JPS students graduate, rather than the previously estimated 67%. The trouble is that the new figures do not factor in students who are covered by the GED Program; if they did, the actual graduation rate would probably be higher than 67%, not lower.

Why Adlai Stevenson Lost

Actual campaign ad from 1952:

Rise Up with Fists

Jenny Lewis, former lead singer of Rilo Kiley, has been one of the best-kept secrets in folk rock for years. Now armed with the retro backing vocals of the Watson Twins, she has taken some of the grit out of her tone and, while it wouldn't quite be right to say she has gone mainstream, she has brought in anesthetic to go with her scalpel. "Rise Up with Fists" seems to be the track that's getting the most airplay right now:

See the Casey Parks Lesson Plan

I was just talking to Ayana Taylor, JFP-reporter-turned-teacher, and she told me that she had run into a NYT lesson plan for teachers—using our very own Casey Parks and her trip to Africa with Nick Kristof! This is very cool, and you can link directly to it from the JFP Web site. She said her students loved doing it because Casey was from here. ;-D

Should Dems Write Off the South?

The lefty blogosphere is "atwitter" (with apologies to the Mississippi Press Association) over the notion that the 2006 mid-term elections were not only a repudiation of various Bush Administration policies and GOP scandals, but also represent an emerging regionalization of the Dems and, by extension, the GOP. Dems mopped up in the Northeast, perhaps putting to rest, for a long time, the notion of the liberal Republican in states like Rhode Island, New York and parts of New Jersey. The Dems also did well with independent voters in the Midwest, and some are positing the notion of a "Libertarian Left" emerging in the Rockies, essentially people who have swapped an anti-Dem stance over issues like gun ownership with an anti-GOP stance against issues like marriage, abortion and "culture war" stuff.

This Has to Be Satire

There is no way that Wyatt Emmerich wrote the following without his tongue firmly implanted in his right cheek:

Of Red Meat and Breast Cancer

Young women, beware of the emerging evidence that eating red meat can increase your risk of breast cancer. Per a New York Times editorial today:

But What Would Jesus SAY?

Marines just say no to Jesus dolls in Toys for Tots Drive.

YDA National Conference Comes to Jackson - November 17th Through 19th

I'm not planning on going, but if you're aged 18-35, politically engaged, and not a Republican, this is a rare opportunity to meet national Democrats without leaving town. The folks in charge of our local YDA chapter seem to be really good people, and I wish them nothing but the best.

Press Association on the JFP ‘Wags" Being ‘Atwitter'

This is fun. The blog of the Mississippi Press Association (I think I'm the only one who ever runs into it) posted something about John Newhouse exiting the Clarion-Ledger, ending with this:

Blogs