Links – A Little Bit of Everything

by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson

*Amanda Marcotte of the blog Pandagon has endorsed John Edwards as her favorite candidate. I raised an eyebrow at this statement:

I’m sad that I feel that I have to endorse the one white guy running in the race. I’d love to say vote for the woman or vote for the black man, because this country really does need a break in the endless stream of white men holding onto this office. But this seems to be one of those “only Nixon can go to China” moments. The other two major candidates have felt like they have to be centrists in order to compensate for their minority status, which means that they’re less progressive than the white guy. While I think that role modeling is an important issue in identity politics, the practical needs of women and people of color come before the need to see role models in the White House, and Edwards looks like he’s the best prepared to deliver on the emergency need issue, which is mainly the lack of economic opportunity. More than role models or reproductive rights, women and people of color are being held back in this country because they aren’t getting economic opportunities or basic services. That needs to be fixed first; we are in an emergency situation, as the fallout from Hurricane Katrina amply demonstrated.

*I am waiting to see if this Pimp My Vote forecast is correct.

*Salon publishes a piece on adoption – or rather, an international adoption that did not happen:

Are we bad, selfish people for wanting our luck to continue, for wanting a child with a normal IQ? How could we refuse a baby whose only “fault” was to be born to a mother too poor to keep her? And yet, we knew that if we said no, she’d likely be matched with another American couple, one more eager to welcome this child despite the risks.

Neil didn’t think we should accept the referral, and I couldn’t bear the responsibility of being the one who said we should. I wanted to be the person who would take on such a parenting challenge, who would prove the doctors wrong. I wanted to be the one who would convince Neil, and myself, that this child was ours. But already, in my mind, she’d become a burden. She was no longer adorable and perfect. Her needs frightened me.

*Cary Tennis continues to treat racism as if it is completely trivial.

*Sepia Mutiny posts on “dubious trend line” stories in the NYT. This edition: Japanese Envying India’s Schools.

*Completely unrelated link, but WTF? DMX is releasing a gospel album. (Hat tip to Stereohyped.)

*From Talking Points Memo, you have to read it to believe it:

The ad is basically ‘vote for me or it’s a big Islamofascist whuppin’ comin’ your way! In other words, campaign Rudy has now devolved into a primal 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 scream.

But when you actually read the script, there’s something even weirder. The announcer reads (italics added) …

An enemy without borders. Hate without boundaries. A people perverted. A religion betrayed. A nuclear power in chaos. Madmen bent on creating it. Leaders assassinated. Democracy attacked …

The whole people is perverted? Depending on how you interpret the ad, Rudy’s either saying that Muslims as a people have been ‘perverted’ or the people of Pakistan are perverted.

Either way, that seems more than a little problematic.

*An extensive article from the NYT magazine on the “Next-Gen Taliban.”

*The NYT on the riots in Kenya. It apparently takes 8 paragraphs before we can explain what caused the protest-turned-riot in the first place. Also, check out the editorial. Notice a theme?

*Lockheed Martin is about to pay out $2.5 million in a racial discrimination settlement:

Daniels, 45, “was the target of persistent verbal abuse by coworkers and a supervisor whose racial slurs and offensive language included calling him the N-word, and saying, ‘We should do to blacks what Hitler did to the Jews,’ and if the South had won then this would be a better country,” the EEOC said in a statement. “Daniels was also subjected to multiple physical threats, such as lynching and other death threats after he reported the harassment.”

The alleged harassment took place while Daniels worked at Lockheed plants in Florida, Washington state and Hawaii.

*Relations between the US and Libya are improving (read: we’re ready to trade with them again.)

*Interfaith dialouge planned between the Vatican and Islamic leaders.