Free For All Friday

Educational Apartheid Coming to Alabama
The enactment of Brown vs. Board (separate is not equal) was supposed to overturn Plessy vs. Ferguson (separate but equal), however 50 years after the passage of Brown vs. Board America's public schools The South has become the first region in the country where more than half of public school students are poor and more than half are members of minorities, according to a report by the Southern Education Foundation.

Southern schools are far more segregated now than they were at the height of integration in the ’70s and ’80s, a period that saw a narrowing of the achievement gap, said Gary Orfield, the co-director of The Civil Rights Project/Proyecto Derechos Civiles at U.C.L.A. The South has the lowest percentage of children in private school of any region, Mr. Orfield said.

Which makes you wonder why republicans and even some democrats are pushing for the enactment of Charter School legislation Alabama since a study finds Segregation rife at Charter schools.

Nearly 3 out of 4 black students who attend charters are in "intensely segregated" schools with student populations that are at least 90 percent minority, according to the study by the UCLA Civil Rights Project. That's twice the rate of regular public schools.

Almost a third of those black students are in what the researchers called "apartheid schools," where 0 to 1 percent of their classmates are white. Charter schools in the Bay Area and California have similar rates of racial isolation.

Guns don't kill people, people with guns kill people

A 14 year old student was shot and killed at school by another student today. The clueless talking teevee pundit heads are getting their information from face book and twitter and repeating the rumors the shooting is "gang related" what ever that means. But lost in all of the chatter is the fact a 14 year old bought a loaded gun to school and killed another 14 year old. Where did he get a gun? How did he manage to get it inside the school building? Instead of repeating facebook and twitter rumors , how about doing some investigating?

The Tea Baggers at the Grand Old Opry!
The "national tea party movement" is holding their first ever convention in Nashville, TN at the Opryland Hotel. I'll bet there is some big time square dancing and hee hawing going on. Sarah Palin is scheduled to speak tomorrow. Can't wait to here her mangle the English language. Tom Tancredo was her warm up act today. One of the Senator Mary Landreiu phone tappers was even spotted there. Nashville sounds like a good place to be from this weekend. Yee Haw!

Kidnapping in the name of the Lord

A group of American *ahem* missionaries were arrested and later indicted this week on charges of attempting to kidnap a group of Haitian children. As Booman blogger Terrancedc says

And kidnapping is a crime. It doesn't matter if you're taking a child out of a poor or disaster-stricken country. If you do the above, you are committing a criminal act. You are, in fact, a criminal.

And, no, it doesn't matter whether your purpose is profit or proselytizing. It doesn't matter if God, the Tooth Fairy, Charles Manson, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster told you do to it. It doesn't matter if your Baptist, Methodist, Episcopalian, or Rosicrucian. You do no have the right to just take a child. Your religion doesn't give it do you. Nor do your intentions. (Or what you say they are.)

As it turns out the ring leader of the group from Idaho (yes you read it right, Idaho) has some issues;

A CBS News employee who witnessed today's court proceedings says Silsby told the judge: "We were trying to do what's best for the children."

When the judge asked, "Didn’t you know you were committing a crime?" Silsby quietly answered, "We are innocent."

But CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker reports there are serious questions tonight about Silsby's motives. The 40-year-old business woman, who convinced members of Idaho's Central Valley Baptist Church to follow her dream of an orphanage in Haiti, has a troubling financial history.

She's been the subject of eight civil lawsuits, 14 for unpaid wages, Whitaker reports. Her Meridian, Idaho house is in foreclosure. She's had at least nine traffic citations in the last 12 years including four for failing to register or insure her car.

Who Dat Gonna Beat them Saints?

I'm more excited about this years Super Bowl game between the Saints of New Orleans and the Colts of Baltimore than I've been in a long time. I was a Saints fan when they were the Ain'ts, so I'm hoping and praying they will be victorius this Sunday. But, IF the Colt's win I won't be mad because they are one of my favorite NFL teams too. It's a win win for me! I still can't understand why CBS thought it would be a good idea to air an anti abortion ad during the biggest game of the year, but since they did my friend and I are going to do our patriotic duty and moon the TeeVee in unison when it airs. :)

Peace Out.