Today's Blogs

A NativeNazi on the Rez

Bloggers discuss Monday’s school shooting in rural Minnesota, debate the character of Terri Schiavo’s husband, and chew on breast-enhancing bubble gum.

NativeNazi: On Monday, Jeff Weise, a teenager from a remote Native American reservation in Minnesota, opened fire in his high school and his grandfather’s house. He killed himself and nine others and wounded more than a dozen high school students. Bloggers pore over thisGuardian story about Weise’s postings on a Nazi Web site. Writing under the tags Todesengel (“angel of death”) and NativeNazi, Weise ranted against the influence of hip-hop culture on Native Americans. “Ever since the Jewish post-war propaganda has been taught in our school systems (on reservations), a lot have been brainwashed into thinking purity is wrong,” he wrote.

“When two WASP boys shot up Columbine High School in suburban Denver, it was breaking-news/wall-to-wall live coverage on all the nets. … When it happened in Red Lake, Minnesota, it’s a drop-in on the cable channels,” says liberal Floridian Mustang Bobby of Bark Bark Woof Woof. “Why do we care more about the angst-ridden teens in our suburbs than we do about the ones on the Indian reservations?” A commentator on Mediabistro’s TV Newser offers an explanation: “Could the lesser coverage of Red Lake have something to do not with the ethnic origin of the victims and shooter, but the fact that Columbine was a 30-minute drive from Denver, and Red Lake is 250 miles from Minneapolis?”

“Apparently, the typical signs of bullying and that stuff are present in this case as with columbine, but fuck, american gun culture is to blame. Up here in Canada we still just beat people up for the most part,” explainsBig Wab’s Wab Kinew. “Since I mostly work with Native American youth, this one really hits home with me,” writesAGood Yarn, the blog of a lawyer devoted to knitting. “This incident brings to mind the many challenges facing Native American people - the high unemployment rate, the chemical dependency and mental health issues, the lack of resources to address these issues.” Seattle marketing professional Kari of Kari’s Thoughts says the “question in my mind is, after the tragedy at Columbine (and others since then) WHY do people not take these threats seriously?”

Read more about the Red Lake shooting.

Michael Schiavo rumor roundup: Bloggers who think Terri Schiavo should keep on living are reheating rumors about her husband Michael. A Weekly Standard piece from last year accuses Michael Schiavo of wanting Terri’s death all along. He “melted down her wedding and engagement rings to make a ring for himself” and euthanized her cats. In a lengthy post on the Kaitlyn Mae Book Blog, Georgetown consultant Patricia Fish rounds up more allegations: “Now we tread softly into more rumor and innuendo. There’s a cloudy suspicion all about that Michael himself had something to do with Terri’s ‘heart attack’ … Also rumor has it that Michael Schiavo, a registered nurse, did NOT administer CPR before the paramedics arrived. Although, fair and balanced, I have seen no proof anywhere about this.” Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry has been impugning Michael’s character with a vengeance. Liberal blog The Dig defends Michael: “Is Randall Terry now saying that Michael Schiavo had something to do with Terri’s current state? Just awful.”

Read more about Michael Schiavo.

Booblegum: A breast-enhancing chewing gum called Bust-Up has popped up in Japan. “Well golly! I can just see legions of Japanese schoolgirls chewing away, sending quick instant messages to each others’ cell phones chronicling each silly millimeter’d difference. Sort of like a real-life anime festival,” writesMichael Bane,the host of a television show called Shooting Gallery. A commentator on Popgadget, a techblog for women, ventures that the story “has some basis in science” because “Asian breast are different than American breasts overall. They are much smaller on average and contain much more fat, unless the woman is on a western diet.” Skeptical Plan 8 from Doubter Space thinks it “won’t be long before these guys buy up Google and Yahoo! Cosmetic snake oil is big business.”

Read more about Bust-Up.

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