cross-posted from U.S. of J. Researchers at the University of Washington further illustrate the link between poverty and obesity: The percentage of food shoppers who are obese is almost 10 times higher at low-cost grocery stores compared with upscale markets, a small new study shows. Researchers say the striking findings underscore poverty as a key Read More
io9’s Marc Bernardin makes the case for a non-white Spidey*: Lee and Ditko created a wonderfully strong character, one full of complexity and depth, who happens to be white. In no way is Peter Parker defined by his whiteness in the same way that too many black characters are defined by their blackness. He’s defined Read More
It seems that segregation is making it’s way back into New Orleans’ public schools: Three out of five schools are dominated by minorities with fewer than 30 percent of their attendees being white. Of those schools, 84 percent of them are considered “very high poverty schools,” where more than 75 percent of students qualify for Read More
[cross-posted from U.S. of J.] C.H. at Democracy in America flags a new report from the Pew Charitable Trusts on the effect of marriage on economic mobility for children: Messrs DeLeire and Lopoo find that marriage has a positive effect on economic mobility for children of all races. Among those who are born in the bottom Read More
(cross-posted from U.S. of J.) Admittedly, it’s nice that Laura Bush is pro-choice and doesn’t hate gay people, but still, it doesn’t actually count for anything. Her “right thinking” doesn’t make-up for the fact that she has offered nothing but unlimited support to her husband, whose actions as president cost the United States thousands of Read More
Eugene Robinson’s column, on the facts of Arizona’s “problem” with illegal immigration, is a must-read (and I use that term sparingly): Border crossings by undocumented immigrants have declined sharply over the past decade. With more Border Patrol agents on duty than ever before, apprehensions of would-be immigrants along the 2,000-mile border have dropped from a Read More
Adam Serwer is a little uncomfortable with President Obama’s ‘predator drones” joke at this weekend’s White House Correspondents Dinner: So you have to wonder why in the world the president’s speech writers would think it was a good idea to throw a joke about predator drones into the president’s speech during the White House Correspondent’s Read More
(cross-posted from U.S. of J.) Yesterday’s Charles Blow column has inspired some particularly obtuse punditry. I expected it of Tom Maguire, who as a run-of-them-mill right-winger is prone to completely missing the point. But I’m honestly surprised to see Conor Friedersdorf stumble blindly down the road of understanding. In a recent post at the American Read More
Over at Salon’s Broadsheet, Sara Libby – a Friend of the Blog — takes a critical look at the whiteness and maleness of the new pundit class: What bothered me about Calderone’s ranting wasn’t so much whether any of these young men deserved to break into these famously stodgy, old-school institutions — I find all their Read More
cross-posted from U.S. of J Adam Serwer has more on Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcement that April is Confederate History Month: The “state’s rights” in question involved the ownership of black people, and the “federal intrusion” the Confederacy opposed was the efforts of the federal government to secure the rights of black Americans. Through the Read More
