just another monday

Paula Rego
According to this North Carolina paper Duke was too slow in responding to the Lacrosse Team "alleged" rape case because the early reports did not give the woman credibility and because they were not aware of the racial implications. WTF? So they would have reacted sooner if 1. the woman hadn't been black and 2. she hadn't been a stripper?

The Caged Virgin : An Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam (Hardcover) by Ayaan Hirsi Ali is next on my reading list.

Big Brother is alive and well in China with a campaign dubbed "Let the Winds of a Civilized Internet Blow". And that is why China will never be the dragon some prophesise. A country with more than a billion people, a history of supression and little in the tradition of uncensored and unbridled thinking is a long ways away from the great leap forward. The New York Times reports on the nefarious practice of snitching on your neighbors and friends as a means of social control. It is very efective as we in the West can attest to during the Salem witch trials or the "holy Inquisition".

More pop psychology: How nurture wins out over nature in the world of soccer champions. Explained by the authors of Freakanomics

From The Slate "U.S. economy relies on the talent and sweat of foreign-born workers, skilled and unskilled, legal or illegal. And that includes the BLS Study. Abraham Mosisa, who has a master's in economics, was born in Ethiopia and is a U.S. citizen. "I am the one who put all these numbers together." The labor Department released "Foreign-Born Workers: Labor Force Characteristics in 2005." It is a clear picture of immigrant's contribution to the American economy. It is overwhelmingly positive.
nature vs nurture, duke case, immigration, internet in china