Ok, so we’ve all seen the news reports of how teen author Kaavya Viswanathan got busted for plagerism… but check out this great take on her situation:
Click here for the article
-Jean Chen

I really really hope this isn’t true. There’s an account on Playahata.com about a writers’ friend who is in Iraq. Basically, there are American soldiers who feel like they can rape and pillage just for the hell of it:
Click here for the account.
When will this war end?
- Jean Chen

Gas prices are still up and Exxon is still making a killing. They just posted record profits this quarter:
Check out the article
-Jean Chen

This is interesting… while thousands of working class Mexicans and their allies are taking to the streets, Indian immigrants who are highly educated have been waging a different kind of war on immigration policies. They’ve been working with lobbyists and getting to folks in Washington.
Check out the article
- Jean Chen

A South Asian man was stopped from boarding a plane because he was listening to the Clash song, “London Calling” on the cab ride over the the driver thought he might be a terrorist. Wha???
Click here for the article
- Jean Chen

Check out what just happened in Kentucky:
“Gov. Ernie Fletcher declared today ‘Diversity Day, then cut from the state government’s hiring policy a provision that explicitly protected public employees from discrimination based on their sexual orientation.”
Click here for the article
- Jean Chen

So I guess it’s now ok for country musicians to criticize Bush. This is from the Daily Dish:
McGraw Will Run for Office
Country singer Tim McGraw has decided to run for elected office, after being appalled by president George W. Bush’s response to last August’s Hurricane Katrina disaster.
McGraw and his wife, singer Faith Hill, are urging [...]

The NY Times analyzed IRS data and found that Bush’s tax cuts really only helped the wealthiest in the nation. Among the findings:
¶Among taxpayers with incomes greater than $10 million, the amount by which their investment tax bill was reduced averaged about $500,000 in 2003, and total tax savings, which included the two Bush tax [...]

The director of “Outfoxed” and the Wal-mart movie is being invited as a guest on the Colbert Report… and he’s asking people to help him prepare for his moment:
http://www.robertgreenwald.org/2006/03/help_me_survive_the_colbert_report.php

The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival is going on right now, and I spent all of Saturday watching movies… my favorite so far is “Punching at the Sun,” an indie feature by director Tanuj Chopra. It’s the story of a young South Asian boy in Queens whose older brother, a legendary street ball [...]

From the NY Times:
“Under assault as never before, Wal-Mart is increasingly looking beyond the mainstream media and working directly with bloggers, feeding them exclusive nuggets of news, suggesting topics for postings and even inviting them to visit its corporate headquarters.”
Click here for the full article
- Jean Chen

From the Washington Post:
“The Bush administration, seeking to limit leaks of classified information, has launched initiatives targeting journalists and their possible government sources. The efforts include several FBI probes, a polygraph investigation inside the CIA and a warning from the Justice Department that reporters could be prosecuted under espionage laws.”
Click here for the full story.
Whatever [...]

Let’s talk about the ports.
When news got out last week that a private Arab company was about to take over the management of U.S. ports around the country, all hell broke loose. People were up in arms with the prospect of handing over our national security to enemy terrorists.
C’mon! People need to calm down. [...]

Instead, the Army is paying it to Halliburton. From the NY Times:
“The Army has decided to reimburse a Halliburton subsidiary for nearly all of its disputed costs on a $2.41 billion no-bid contract to deliver fuel and repair oil equipment in Iraq, even though the Pentagon’s own auditors had identified more than $250 million in [...]

Yes, Damon Wayans is actually trying to do this:
http://wired.com/news/technology/0,70259-0.html?tw=wn_index_11
- Jean Chen