In 1990, 37% of children born in the U.S. were minorities, but by 2008 it was 48%. This means the country is on track to become a minority-majority country by the middle of the century, according to Kenneth Johnson, of the University of New Hampshire.
Conservatives weep.
Today, we admire the American revolutionaries, and subsequent uncompromising movements. But don't forget: The victors write history. If the South had won the Civil War, what would our schoolchildren be taught about the abolitionists today? Some in the antislavery movement were as extreme, in their way, as the Southern "fire-eaters." We tend to think of the secessionists as resisting federal authority during the run-up to Fort Sumter. But the antislavery side had its moments of nullification as well. In 1851, a Boston crowd broke into a federal courthouse to free "Shadrach," a black man being held there by U.S. marshals enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law. Abolitionist Theodore Parker declared this blatant defiance of Washington "the most noble deed done in Boston since the destruction of the tea in 1773."
You've got to love the use of scare quotes around "Shadrach", as though he's referring to a dog's name, not that of a human being. Coates:
Lane is referencing, in rather disrespectful fashion, the awesome Shadrach Minkins. A Norfolk-area slave, Minkins' unthinking extremism deluded him into believing that he was a human being. Upon this radical realization, the hot-headed Minkins fled North and took up with a band of ex-slaves and abolitionists who also had thoughtlessly decided that blacks were people. Lane is trying to cover himself by noting that he's comparing attitude, not morals. This only works in the most absurdly narrow sense--both abolitionists and fire-eaters believed that aspects of the federal law should be resisted. But this is like saying that both Roosevelt and Hitler had resigned themselves to mass killings [...] Shadrach Minkins and his folks were willing to ponder a jailbreak. Robert Rhett and his folks were willing to ponder the loss of two percent of America's population.
Lane is referencing, in rather disrespectful fashion, the awesome Shadrach Minkins. A Norfolk-area slave, Minkins' unthinking extremism deluded him into believing that he was a human being. Upon this radical realization, the hot-headed Minkins fled North and took up with a band of ex-slaves and abolitionists who also had thoughtlessly decided that blacks were people.
Lane is trying to cover himself by noting that he's comparing attitude, not morals. This only works in the most absurdly narrow sense--both abolitionists and fire-eaters believed that aspects of the federal law should be resisted. But this is like saying that both Roosevelt and Hitler had resigned themselves to mass killings [...]
Shadrach Minkins and his folks were willing to ponder a jailbreak. Robert Rhett and his folks were willing to ponder the loss of two percent of America's population.
Fair enough. If you're a code warrior or someone who likes to take thinks apart to upgrade and modify, then the iPad is not for you. But for people like me, technology isn't a hobby, it's the tools I use to do my work and make my life better. I don't care HOW it works, I don't want to CHANGE how it works, and I get angry if it DOESN'T work. Ultimately, there's a reason why the iPhone is more stable than even my Mac-- it's a closed system. There's a reason my Wii or XBox rarely crash -- they're closed systems. Those devices do their jobs, and they do it well. And when a piece of technology is doing its job well, I forget it even exists, and focus solely on the task I'm trying to accomplish -- whether it's write a book, or play a game, or goof off on twitter, or whatever.
Of course, I also love open-source software, so this isn't a question of absolutism or philosophical fundamentalism. There's a time and place for open systems, and a time and place for closed systems. Me, I can't wait for my iPad to arrive. And for those who don't want one, don't worry! ACORN won't come knocking on your door with orders that you buy one.
It's the same person who will work on behalf of her corporate masters to destroy it.
Yup, Blanche Lincoln.