R.I.P. Barbaro.

We'll never know what might have been.

iTunes is currently playing: Fragile from the album Flyer by Nanci Griffith.

There is a reason why people wear t-shirts that say …

... "I SURVIVED CATHOLIC SCHOOL."

As kids, we were taught primarily by nuns, many of whom were clueless about the emotional needs of children. Most of us can recall incidents in which some child was singled out and publicly humiliated during class in a way that would be considered borderline-abusive today.

I like to think that those days are gone and that children who attend contemporary Catholic schools are being educated by people who understand children. Then I read something like this.

Sigh ... Why not just send your kid to reform school ...

From the Associated Press
January 26, 2007

WARWICK, R.I. — A Roman Catholic elementary school adopted rules this week requiring students to remain silent while eating. The move comes after three recent choking incidents in the cafeteria.

No one was hurt, but the principal of St. Rose of Lima School explained in a letter to parents that if the lunchroom is loud, staff members cannot hear a child choking.

Christine Lamoureux, whose 12-year-old is a sixth-grader at the school, said she respected the safety issue but thought the rule was a bad idea.

"They are silent all day," she said. "They have to get some type of release."

iTunes is currently playing: Don't Talk from the album MTV Unplugged by 10,000 Maniacs.

More on the discriminatory practices of Congress

From the Associated Press
January 26, 2007

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.), a White House hopeful, said Thursday that the existence of the Congressional Black Caucus and other race-based groups of lawmakers amounted to segregation and should be abolished.

"It is utterly hypocritical for Congress to extol the virtues of a colorblind society while officially sanctioning caucuses that are based on race," said Tancredo, who is most widely known as a vocal critic of illegal immigration.

"If we are serious about achieving the goal of a colorblind society, Congress should lead by example and end these divisive race-based caucuses," he said in a letter to Administration Committee Chairwoman Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Carson).

Amen!

iTunes is currently playing: The Fences from the album Alexei and the Spring by Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Apparently racism is ok …

... if blacks are the ones doing the discriminating...

Black Caucus: Whites Not Allowed

By: Josephine Hearn
January 22, 2007 08:33 PM EST

Freshman Rep. Stephen I. Cohen, D-Tenn., is not joining the Congressional Black Caucus after several current and former members made it clear that a white lawmaker was not welcome.

The bylaws of the caucus do not make race a prerequisite for membership, a House aide said, but no non-black member has ever joined.

Rep. Pete Stark, D-Calif., who is white, tried in 1975 when he was a sophomore representative and the group was only 6 years old.

"Half my Democratic constituents were African-American. I felt we had interests in common as far as helping people in poverty," Stark said. "They had a vote, and I lost. They said the issue was that I was white, and they felt it was important that the group be limited to African-Americans."

iTunes is currently playing: The World Isn't Fair from the album Bad Love by Randy Newman.