News Post #1

First item that I read today, found via http://www.drudgereport.com:
http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/3967448/detail.html
It would be nice to see writers stop calling Lacey Peterson's child a fetus. It has been determined that the child was murdered as well. Child. Not "fetus." The child even had a name, Connor. Fetus is a scientific term that is overused by the mainstream media to support pro-choice views (ie: supporting abortion).

Second item to catch my attention comes from http://www.tonguetied.us :
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, made the assumption that an "african-american" student in athletic gear was a football player. This, of course, resulted in an uproar from the class he was addressing, with the result of a letter to Sheriff Arpaio signed by all but one of the attendees. Who wrote the letter? Not surprisingly, the professor wrote the letter and then had his students sign the article. The letter expresses the outrage and indignation of the students and the professor at how "race insensitive" the sheriff is. Basically, they accused Sheriff Arpaio of racism. Now, Sheriff Arpaio is going to go back to the class to "discuss" the event with the students.
I would post the link to the school's article, but it doesn't have the most fair of views. The link is on the Tonguetied site.
I've been to Arizona, and I've visited Arizona State University. My experience is that there is a low population of "african-americans" in Arizona and especially at the univesity. Also, having been an avid football fan, I can say that most players of football, in and out of college level, are "african-american." I don't find it particularly egregious for someone to make the assumption that an "afican-american" student wearing athletic attire is on a sports team. Looking at a picture of the student in question, I'm surprised that the sheriff didn't refer to him as "the basketball player." If the student had been wearing a suit or a t-shirt and jeans, I highly doubt he would have been called "the football player." Besides, why is being called a football player so highly racist? According to the professor, it is because it's automatically assumed that "african-americans" can only get into college based on athletic rides and not on merit. However, Sheriff Arpaio never made a statement saying this. He only referred to the student as a football player, nothing else attached. To me, it looks like it is the professor and his students who made the assumption that football players are all "african-americans" on athletic rides, not the sheriff.