Round-up

1. Here is a good letter by a reader at The Times, castigating Sir Trevor Phillips for his comments that “If Barack Obama had lived here I would be very surprised if even somebody as brilliant as him would have been able to break through the institutional stranglehold on power within the Labour Party.” The author of the letter rightly takes him to task for his implication that British politics is somehow more institutionally racist than that of America.

2. Check out this piece at the Orion, the official newspaper of California State University: "Obama Presidency Uncovers Veiled Racism, Intolerance". It's more of that "veiled racism" stuff, which is just a pseudonym for "Racism is Alive and Well". As if anyone really found it shocking or surprising that there are some (and I emphasise the word SOME) racists in America.

This line also floored me:

America wants change.

Well, at least 53 percent of Americans want change. The rest want to continue repeating history and living in ignorance because apparently it's "blissful."

What a simplistic, insulting statement. Why did California State University think this was an acceptable academic standard for publication?