(no subject)

Happy Samhain, everyone.

I'm at work with my witch's hat on.

(no subject)

Yesterday I joined wrimobuddies, but today I had to stop watching the community. It was just too much.

In other news, Student Finds Unpublished Plath Poem

They are using federal funds to tell you to just say no.

Alerted by sophiaserpentia: Abstinence message goes beyond teens

The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.

"They've stepped over the line of common sense," said James Wagoner, president of Advocates for Youth, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit that supports sex education. "To be preaching abstinence when 90% of people are having sex is in essence to lose touch with reality. It's an ideological campaign. It has nothing to do with public health."

Abstinence education programs, which have focused on preteens and teens, teach that abstaining from sex is the only effective or acceptable method to prevent pregnancy or disease. They give no instruction on birth control or safe sex.

(no subject)

Ad echoes GOP's 'Southern strategy'

Prop 2

Race Preferences Vote Splits Michigan

For the University of Michigan, the proposition would require broader changes than the Supreme Court did; it ruled in Ms. Gratz’s case and a companion case that while the consideration of race as part of the law school’s admissions policy was constitutional, a formula giving extra points to minority undergraduate applicants was not.

The president of the university, Mary Sue Coleman, an opponent of the proposition, said its reach could extend into K to 12 education.

“It would make it illegal to have our program targeting girls in junior high school, and having them come to campus to learn about science and engineering,” Ms. Coleman said. “I’m a woman scientist, and I know how fragile our gains are.”

[...] [One United Michigan] members said Proposition 2 would hamper employers’ efforts to diversify their work forces. They said it would also force some local governments to eliminate outreach and set-aside programs for minority contractors and would diminish the already-meager representation of black and Hispanic students at the flagship university here.

“It would be like slamming a door on progress,” Ms. Coleman said. “I will do everything that’s legal to help us attract minority students. But it’s already having a chilling effect.”

[...] Ms. Peterson and others at the [University of Michigan] emphasized that because there were so many white applicants and so few blacks, an end to affirmative action would not substantially increase white students’ odds of admission. In their book, “The Shape of the River,” Derek C. Bok and William G. Bowen estimated that if selective universities had race-blind admissions, the probability of white students’ admission would rise only slightly — to 26.5 percent from 25 percent — while black students’ admissions would decline by half. (emphasis mine)

---

The Law and Race in the United States: An Outline for Understanding

more dsgood goodness

Humans and Neanderthals Might Have Interbred

Light-sensitive photoswitches could restore sight to those with macular degeneration: Altered potassium, glutamate channels turn on and off with light

Not just 'entertainment': Soft news coverage really affects voters' choices