by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Those of you who will be watching the Superbowl this weekend should brace yourself for this stinker of an ad from Taco Bell. Don’t say we didn’t warn you!
(Hat tip to MultiCultClassics)

Dissident’s Arrest Hints at Olympic Crackdown – New York Times
“The arrest of an activist who spread information about politically touchy topics is cited as an example of a “cleansing campaign.””
(tags: china activism)

For Many Turks, Head Scarf’s Return Aids Religion and Democracy – New York Times
“The Turkish government’s decision this week to lift a ban on [...]

by Racialicious special correspondent Latoya Peterson

Alisa Valdes Rodriguez – Cuban Americans Should Support Barack
Obama is the only candidate in the race, either Democrat or Republican, who has a Cuba policy that makes any sense. He is the only candidate who is not afraid to state the obvious, which is this: The harsh U.S. economic embargo [...]

by guest contributor Robb Garvey Thompson, originally published on Blackline
Black people love to dance, and everyone knows it. Don’t believe me? Watch any black awards show. You can have the most elite black people in the country, wearing the finest designers, sitting dignified, but once you add a Kanye West performance to the mix, you’ll [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
That headline makes no sense right? Well it does once you find out that some folks are using the term “Canadian” as code for “black.”
From Foreign Policy’s blog:
Earlier this month, an e-mail that had been circulating since 2003, written by a Houston assistant district attorney Mike Trent, resurfaced. The e-mail was short, [...]

Probe: FEMA sugarcoated danger of hurricane trailers – CNN.com
“The Federal Emergency Management Agency manipulated scientific research to play down the danger posed by formaldehyde in trailers issued to hurricane victims, according to an investigation by congressional Democrats.”
(tags: katrina healthcare)

New York Minute – NY Daily News
“Which reality-show clogged network…had an informal ban on considering cast members [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
Am I the only one who finds this Bill-Clinton-has-black-cred story in today’s New York Times ridiculous?
While the blogosphere and commentariat rang this weekend with angry declarations that he had crossed a line in his criticism of Barack Obama, many in Harlem seemed to mull it over, shrug their shoulders and say [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
The latest issue of Ms. Magazine, which hits newsstands today, has an interesting investigative report on Ward Connerly. It’s definitely worth a read.
(Those of you who have been with this blog since the Mixed Media Watch days may remember a regular feature we used to do called Ward Watch, in which [...]

by Racialicious special correspondent Fatemeh Fakhraie, originally published at Muslimah Media Watch
The original view of Middle Eastern/Muslim women was that of a lazily sensual harem woman reclining on a couch. Most recently, it has morphed into a cowed housewife bullied by her religion and the men in her life. From these icons arises a newer [...]

Kennedy Chooses Obama, Spurning Plea by Clintons – New York Times
“Mr. Kennedy had become increasingly disenchanted with the tone of the Clinton campaign, aides said. He and former President Bill Clinton had a heated telephone exchange earlier this month over…misleading statements by Mr. Clinton”
(tags: politics race)

Clinton’s Latino spin – Los Angeles Times
“was Bendixen’s blanket statement [...]

by Carmen Van Kerckhove
LOL! Jay Smooth totally calls it. Yes rappers, lay off the juicing before Oprah holds a town hall meeting about why hip hop is making everyone use steroids.

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson
Colorlines Magazine
November/December 2007 Issue
www.colorlines.com

This entire issue of Colorlines is worth a full, thorough read, but here are a few of the articles that caught my eye:
Wasting Away in Margaritaville (p. 10)

Exploring the construction of mega-casino, Margaritaville (a $700 million dollar joint venture between Harrah Casino and Jimmy Buffet), the article [...]

kumar’s class at u. penn – angry asian man
“Remember all that hoopla last year when it was announced that actor Kal Penn would be teaching a class at the University of Pennsylvania? Well, class is in session, and Kumar’s got your syllabus right here. “
(tags: asianamerican actors education movies)

killing, the rambo way – angry asian [...]

New American Realism Emerges Amid Grousing and Hummers – New York Times
“Algenis Perez Soto plays a Dominican pitcher in Iowa in “Sugar,” one of the films demonstrating a new strain of American realism at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.”
(tags: movies latino hispanic sports)

Nice Résumé. Have You Considered Botox? – New York Times
“Many people would shun [...]

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson
Ask yourselves: what is your candidate going to do with the rising class gap in America? How do they propose to fix the problems (housing, retirement problems, education, wages) that contribute to the ever widening class divide?
Pathways Magazine, a Stanford University based publication dedicated to exploring poverty, inequality, and [...]