links for 2010-04-09

The producers who made Jersey Shore are now working on literally-named spin-off The Persian Version. This is in addition to the Asian version in L.A. and the Russian version in Brighton Beach. Reality television: 21C minstrel shows? Los Angeles' Asian version specifies Koreatown but is open to all Asians as well as fetishists: "If you are not Asian but are obsessed with Asian culture or people in some way, email us and please explain." Brooklyn's Brighton Beach is offering Russkies to counter Jersey's guidos: "There will be plenty of vodka, techno music and guys wearing Adidas pants, leather jackets and gold chains, and driving souped-up cars."

Malaika Brooks was seven months pregnant when she was pulled over for going 32 mph in a 20 mph zone. Ms. Brooks denied that she was speeding and subsequently refused to sign the ticket because she thought it meant admitting guilt…The officers' first attempt to forcibly remove her from her car using what is called the "pain compliance hold" failed, so they did what any three rational, fully-grown men would do when faced with one stubborn, stressed-out, visibly pregnant woman: they tasered her. Three times. After the third time Ms. Brooks was tasered, the officers dragged her out of her vehicle and laid her face-down on the street, despite her pleas that she was pregnant and they were hurting her stomach…In a 2-1 ruling, the Court found that the Seattle officers behaved reasonably because Ms. Brooks might have managed to snatch her keys back and then drive off erratically.

Black homeowners are roughly 50 percent less likely than whites to receive help under the largest of the administration’s anti-foreclosure programs, according to a new survey of qualified families.The findings have raised questions on Capitol Hill about the fairness of the program, led housing advocates to reiterate calls for a more aggressive foreclosure prevention initiative, and put the White House on the defensive just as it steps up its multi-pronged strategy to stabilize the troubled housing market.

I do not like the niqab/burqa. It makes me uncomfortable. But that's not a good enough reason to argue that it be banned or, worse, that those wearing it be denied public services, including education and even health care, as Quebec is proposing. Based on even majority public opinion, a democracy cannot discriminate because of dress…