I received this message from junshien

“Black researcher spent 9 months studying why black students in an affluent community were far under performing academically compared with their white counterparts. He found out that although racism, socioeconomics, and school funding played a small role, the main cause of the problem was the attitudes of the black students and their parents. The average black student “put little effort into schoolwork and was part of a peer culture that looked down on academic success as acting white.” In addition, he also observed that the black parents in that community felt that since they have already paid higher taxes, “they believe the school system should take care of the rest. They didn’t supervise their children that much. They didn’t make sure their children did their homework. That’s not how other ethnic groups think.”

As a result of his findings, he was thoroughly criticized by the school district, black parents, and other researchers.  Here is the link:  Link

Do your readers think it’s possible that cultural attitudes can play a big role in academic performance?

Have you got your dad his Father’s Day gift?

U.S. troops may no longer be asked a mental health question when they are applying for security clearances.

The Pentagon is considering dropping a question off the application off the questionnaire for the security clearance.  The questionnaire asks the civilian workers and military troops if they have consulted a mental health professional in the last seven years. 

If they have consulted a mental health professional, they need to list the names, addresses and dates of the doctor or therapist they been to see.  Here is the link:  Link

Is it necessary for the military to know the mental health history of a person receiving a security clearance?

Everywhere you go these days on the internet, you see what are called lolcats.

What is the appeal of these lolcats?

I am a feminist.  I believe women should be treated equal to men. 

Mike Nifong, the attorney general in the Duke lacrosse case, is being held accountable.

He has resigned from his position and may be disbarred.  Here is the link:  Link

Reade Seligmann was charged with two other men just because he was accused of rape.  Here is a video of his testimony:  Link

We should charge people that are accused of crimes.  The court system is designed to find out the truth.

This is where my feminist side kicks in.  I want the woman in this case to be treated equally.  The state attorney general has said that her story had serious “inconsistencies.” 

Why is the woman in this case not being held accountable? 

I have posted about this before when the charges were dropped and I heard a few answers.  It was suggested that she had mental problems.  But the reality is that people with mental problems are brought to trial all the time and the courts are designed to deal with this problem.  Mental problems have never stopped a person from getting forced treatment when it comes to committing a crime.

Mike Nifong has lost his job because he was overzealous or because he may have lied.  The only way that can be determined is if he was held accountable.  The system goes through a course to determine that.

These men were accused of rape.  The only way we could determine if this was true was for them to go through the process to determine if they were guilty.

Should the woman be held accountable?

See how well you score on stories in the news.  (Hint:  Be humble and consider yourself an intern).

Here is the link:  Link

What did you score?

One thing I hear every once in awhile is a person who is pro-life referred to as anti-abortion.  This may sound like a small difference but the title matters to a bunch of people.  For the longest time, people referred to the two different positions as pro-life and pro-choice. 

If you watch carefully, more and more newspapers have actually picked up the terms pro-choice and anti-abortion.

Is it more appropriate to call a person pro-life or anti-abortion?

Here is the Barack Obama video from the “Obama Girl” that is getting some attention:

Is Barack Obama really that hot?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger told immigrants they should avoid Spanish-language media.

He said, “You’ve got to turn off the Spanish television set.”  He also told them to stay away from “Spanish-language television, books, and newspapers.”  He added, ”You’re just forced to speak English, and that just makes you learn the language faster.”  Here is the link:  Link

Would immigrants be better off avoiding Spanish TV, books and media?

Are Christians allowed to drink beer?