Samantha Pierce

Parableman is moving to a new site here's the new Parablemania , http://parablemania.ektopos.com/

Schools system accused of being racist . Why is it that racism is always at fault? The study, the African Caribbean Achievement Plan, said: "Some, although not all, African Caribbean young people underachieve because they are educated in an education system that is not totally effective and which exhibits aspects of racism." Karamat Iqbal, lead adviser on equalities for Birmingham LEA, was an author of the plan. He said to engage pupils properly, their heritage ought to be recognised in the curriculum. You know, I when I first came to the States most of the teachers had no idea where Barbados was. They certainly weren't teaching West Indian history and the kids took great pleasure in making fun of my accent. But some how I still managed to continue learning how to read, write, and do math. Of course that was 20 years ago. The article mentions that Black and Asian studengs are "underachieving at school in Birmingham partly because of 'racism' in t...

"Slave reparations case dismissed" Good thing: "CHICAGO - A federal judge on Monday dismissed a lawsuit brought by descendants of slaves against corporations they say profited from slavery, saying the plaintiffs had established no clear link to the companies they targeted." Bad thing: "The court still left the door open for further litigation." One of the companies named in this reparations suit is Lehman Brothers. This Christian Science Monitor article reveals the extent of their involvement in American slavery, "Out of thousands of companies that have turned in affidavits [disclosing involvement with slavery], only one, Lehman Brothers, has acknowledged any record of a slave. Martha (no last name was recorded) served as a domestic in the home of the founding brothers. (The company contends the business itself had no ties to slavery; the reparations lawsuit disputes that.)" I guess the reparations movement has it's own versi...

Pakistan: Christian jailed on dubious blasphemy charge Pakistan: Christian teenager forced into hiding

We're not the only ones who thought this story was bloody stupid. Baldilocks does too. I can't believe someone actually said, "It was felt that your demeanor and therefore presence in the classroom would serve as an unrealistic expectation as to what high school students could strive to achieve or become." Grrrr. I suppose a pimp or a drug dealer would have been a more suitable candidate? Up date: Joanne Jacobs at Foxnews, Flight From Excellence .

The Passion of Apostates (Part II): The Hugh Hewitt Connection , note the striking difference between how Mr. Hewitt is described and how Rev. Stanger is described. Right-wing Christian ideologue and media pundit Hugh Hewitt is repaying actor/director Mel Gibson with lavish praise for the invitation he got to one of Gibson's exclusive pre-screenings of the controversial forthcoming film "The Passion of the Christ." [Finally, someone had the courage to stand up and expose Hugh’s true colors. After hearing all this talk about him being a “center-right” blogger I’m glad someone pointed out the truth – he’s a media pundit. I mean, really, one post a day does not a blogger make.] Gibson has tried to keep his production hermetically sealed for months, shutting out mainstream Christian, Jewish and interfaith leaders from screenings. But based on a leaked version of the script, many of those religious leaders are deeply concerned that the film will unleash a wave of anti...

We made it into Evangelical Outpost's End of the Week Roundup ! "No, it's my turn on the computer!" -- Favorite Husband and Wife Blogs (Tie) {Le Sabot Post-Modern & TulipGirl } / {Parablemania & Uncle Sam’s Cabin}

Hello again to all my friends I'm glad you came to stay! Our fun and learning never ends, here's what we learned today! It's Friday! And in keeping with that, I would like to take a moment and interject some levity into the conversations. I thought I would share my thoughts with you on the subject of cats and their domintation of our world. As I was talking with my sister last night, I told her I would have to get off the phone soon because I needed to go upstairs, to which she replied; 'don't you have a cordless?'. Well the answer to that is no, but it got me to thinking about how the idea of cordless phones came about. After careful thought this is how I think it all went down... It was 3pm on a Friday afternoon, the roast was in the oven, the potatoes were boiling on the stove, and the vegetables were steaming. All was in order to have dinner ready and waiting for the husband and kids who would be arriving in 30 minutes. Then the phone rings....

I used to live in Crown Heights when I was a kid. My mostly fond memories of living in that neighbourhood have been tainted by what happened there in August of 1991. My family bought a house in Queens shortly before the riots happened so we were spared being in the eye of the storm. This story strikes very close to home for me. New Play About Crown Heights Blames Jews for Deadly Riots “A play blaming Jews for the Crown Heights riots of 1991 has opened at a new theater on West 42nd Street that was built in part with a tax-exempt, multimillion-dollar city bond. The play, called "Crown Heights," portrays the murder of chasidic scholar Yankel Rosenbaum as a tragic accident in a fight in which Jews threw the first punch.” This is an anti-semitic revision of history folks. To add insult to injury it is also funded by the tax dollars of the American people. I’m not so old that I don’t remember what really happened in 1991 or who happily poured oil on and fanned the flames of t...

Part three Poverty: A Culture Issue, Not a Race Issue Poverty is a problem that cuts across color lines. Only about one-third of the black community is part of what we call the underclass. There are large numbers of whites and Hispanics which also fall into this category. The factors which keep blacks in the underclass are the same which keep others mired there -- illiteracy, illegitimacy, crime, substance abuse, etc.

Farmed salmon industry faces lawsuit SAN FRANCISCO - The farmed salmon industry faces legal action in California for failing to warn consumers that the fish contain what environmental groups say are potentially dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals. Defendants named include major U.S. grocery chains such as Safeway Inc., Kroger Co., Albertsons Inc. and Costco Wholesale Corp. and farmed salmon producers in Canada and Europe. Surprise surprise! Who knew this is where we would end up when the study that is apparently driving this shake down legal action first surfaced a few weeks ago.

From The Empty Chair by Fr. Rob Johansen, The most popular kind of music among young people today is "gangsta rap", which glories in violence, degradation, and exploitation. It assaults the very idea of social bonds. One of the biggest fads today is body piercing: It's no longer enough for some people to wear one or two, or even three earrings, but now some young people pierce their noses, their eyebrows, their cheeks, and even less mentionable parts. But it goes even farther, to things like branding, or something called "tongue splitting", in which people have their tongues surgically split in two, so as to resemble that of a snake. A serious problem among young women today is "cutting": these girls cut themselves deliberately, mutilating their bodies. All of these kinds of self-mutilation, all of this degradation, is symptomatic of something. It didn't just come out of nowhere. These things are symptoms of deep emotional and spiritual pain...

Many Turks become Christians, but must tread carefully "UPI reports that 35,000 Turks became Christians last year — a major social movement in that country. There is a certain poetic justice to this, as the report suggests that many are the descendants of Christians who were forced to become Muslims during the time of the Armenian genocide and the persecution and expulsion of the Greeks. However, these Christians still have to be quiet and 'not make waves,' even in that enlightened, secular, moderate Muslim nation. Now why is that?" From Dhimmi Watch .

Brains can hurt job applicants by Marquis Harris (Thanks to American Black for the link) Could anyone imagine the day when an aspiring educator would be told that he is, in essence, overqualified? Perhaps my story is merely an exception to the rule. In either circumstance, the outcome is appalling. I am a 22-year-old African-American male and recent graduate of a respectable liberal arts college in Kentucky. I acquired a 3.75 grade-point average with a double major in Social Studies Secondary Education and sociology. I was a Rhodes Scholar nominee, inducted into the Mensa society in May 2001, named to the National Dean's List for three consecutive years, successfully competed in intercollegiate forensics and served as student body president. While in college I was also privileged to serve on mission trips to Mexico, Guatemala and Jamaica. In the summer of 2002 I was granted the opportunity to intern with Saxby Chambliss, who was then a U.S. representative running for ...

Well well well! It looks like some people (and some countries) may have been bought off by Sadam Hussien. Who woulda thunk it? Tim Blair writes: Maybe it really was all about oil : Claims that dozens of politicians, including some from prominent anti-war countries such as France, had taken bribes to support Saddam Hussein are to be investigated by the Iraqi authorities. The US-backed Iraqi Governing Council decided to check after an independent Baghdad newspaper, al-Mada, published a list which it said was based on oil ministry documents.

The Evangelical Outpost has comments on a Salon.com interview with one Rev. Mark Stanger, a big wig in the mainstream Episcopalian church. It seems this gentleman doesn't approve of Mel Gibson's "The Passion". Stanger's obvious hostility towards, and disregard for, the gospel is painful to behold. If this is the kind of leadership that the Episcopalian church has no wonder it is in trouble.

This looks interesting, Speech Codes.org . From the about page, "Colleges and universities routinely punish students and faculty for their speech, their writings, and their membership in campus groups. On campus after campus, administrators create and enforce codes to outlaw free speech and free expression that does not conform to various new campus orthodoxies. Almost all of these speech codes depend, for their survival, upon a double standard that strikes at the heart of legal and moral equality." Thanks to InstaPundit for the link.

La Shawn Barber comments on conservative club woes and life as a liberal in Every Muhammad, Jamul and Jose .

Part Duex Racism: Reality and Perceptions "But just because racism is mostly dead doesn't mean that it's lost its impact. (I'll take a moment now and acknowledge that there certainly still exists white racism, what I deny is that it is widespread.) Like some sort of malevolent ghost, it haunts the popular memory of the black community. To listen to many of the self-appointed African-American spokesmen is to visit an alternate reality -- one where despite massive gains by blacks in every sphere of endeavor, little has changed since circa 1965 and every perceived slight is 'Selma!' all over again. "Am I saying that African-Americans should forget the past? No. But I am saying that their community's 'leadership' does them a disservice by constantly inflaming mistrust and raising the specter of racism. The perception of racism can be just as debilitating as the thing itself."

Tacitus comments on the incident where a vehicle carrying women in Iraq was fired upon killing and wounding some of the women. Apparently most of them were Christians.