Poor Mojo's Newswire

In the halls of higher education, opposing viewpoints shouldn't just be permitted, they should be encouraged. But when New York University's law school asked Dr. Thio Li-ann, of the National University of Singapore, to teach the course "Human Rights in Asia" this fall, it invited students to pay tuition to learn from someone who teaches the wrongs of homosexuality. A noted human rights advocate, Li-ann is also a fierce supporter of Singapore's law that criminalizes same-sex sex. To explain how someone who's so against institutional oppression and human suffering could also be against extending rights to gays and lesbians, you'll have to understand Li-ann's position: "A moral wrong cannot be a human right." And according to the NYU Outlaw blog protesting Li-ann's hiring, she compares anal sex to "shoving a straw up your nose to drink." Even Bruno wasn't wise enough to make that leap. And still, NYU wants to have her as a visiting professor. Smartly, NYU Outlaw (an organization of the law school's gay students) will use Li-ann's marred perspective on human rights to have an open dialogue (via forum) "about the boundaries of human rights." Also, an open dialogue on what type of professors NYU students' tuition should pay for. Because, as Transracial notes, Dr. Li-ann is among those who not only finds homosexuality deplorable, but also curable. Why not, then, add Astrology 101 to pre-reqs?

The Central Intelligence Agency withheld information about a secret counterterrorism program from Congress for eight years on direct orders from former Vice President Dick Cheney, the agency’s director, Leon E. Panetta, has told the Senate and House intelligence committees, two people with direct knowledge of the matter said Saturday. The report that Mr. Cheney was behind the decision to conceal the still-unidentified program from Congress deepened the mystery surrounding it, suggesting that the Bush administration had put a high priority on the program and its secrecy. Mr. Panetta, who ended the program when he first learned of its existence from subordinates on June 23, briefed the two intelligence committees about it in separate closed sessions the next day.

ALSIP, Ill. – Three gravediggers and a cemetery manager unearthed hundreds of corpses from a historic black cemetery south of Chicago, dumping some in a weeded area and double-stacking others in existing graves, in an elaborate scheme to resell the plots, authorities said Thursday. All four were charged with felonies. Frantic relatives of the deceased descended on Burr Oak Cemetery — the final resting place of lynching victim Emmett Till and blues singers Willie Dixon and Dinah Washington — in hopes someone could tell them their loved ones' remains were not among the pile of bones that littered a remote area of the property in Alsip, 12 miles south of Chicago. Some found apparently undisturbed plots, but others wandered, unable to locate loved ones. . . . A visibly shaken Rev. Jesse Jackson voiced the mounting anger at those who would toss the bones of the dead like trash. "In my judgment, there should be no bail for them, there should be really a special place in hell for these graveyard thieves who have done so much, hurt these families," he said.

Last week, over 60 black and Latino day campers were turned away from a swim club in Philadelphia because of complaints by white adult members of the club that, according to the club's president John Duesler, "[A] lot of kids would change the complexion ... and the atmosphere of the club." Community blogger zp27 beat us to the punch on this story, an absolute nightmare and truly telling to the stark reality of the racism and bigotry that exists in this country. The club is of course backtracking and saying that the issue wasn't race, despite some of the kids overhearing racist complaints by the members of the club right before they were asked to leave and the club returned the $1,950 check Creative Steps Day Care had given them to use the pool. The good news out of this is that the day care center has gotten tons of support from surrounding clubs and schools since, some who have offered their pools for the campers to use. But this doesn't change the fact that these kids, as young as five years old, have already been told that they aren't allowed to swim in a pool because of their race. It's just unreal.