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Oprah Invites O.J. to Talk About If I Did It
By Yoji Cole
August 28, 2007
Oprah Invites O.J. to Talk About If I Did It
Oprah Winfrey is diving into the controversy over O.J. Simpson's new book, If I Did It. On Sept. 13, the media queen will host Denise Brown, sister of O.J.'s dead ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson, and Fred and Kim Goldman, father and sister of Nicole's dead friend Ron Goldman, on "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Brown, the Goldmans and Winfrey will debate the merits of the book. Brown has expressed shock and horror that the Goldmans made a deal with Simpson's publisher, Beaufort Books, for the book, in which Simpson writes about how he could have killed his ex-wife and her friend, if he had done it, reports the New York Post. Read more.
(See also: O.J. Simpson Book a Bestseller [scroll down])
NYC's First Arabic School Having Trouble
The Khalil Gibran International Academy, named after a Lebanese Christian, is Manhattan's first Arabic school that will teach the language and the culture. Now, the school is being called a potential training ground for Muslim terrorists. The controversy climaxed after Gibran's first principal, Debbie Almontaser, left earlier this month after her connection to a group that wore T-shirts with the words "Intifada NYC" printed on them incurred protests. Almontaser was replaced by acting-interim principal Danielle Salzberg, a Jewish woman who does not speak Arabic. Gibran will start with sixth-graders and expand one class every year to end up with 500 to 600 students in grades 6-12. It is among a number of small public schools in New York City that are themed, covering areas from the arts to social justice to Chinese language. Read more.
Baby Talk: It's a Cross-Cultural Thing
If you were to record how you speak to a baby and how you speak to an adult, and then play those recordings for people not familiar with English or American customs, would they know the difference? Yes, according to researchers who tested it with residents of a Shuar village in Morona Santiago Province in southeastern Ecuador. When researchers showed the Shuar English-speaking adults doing baby talk, the Shuar understood an average of 75 percent of the time. "This is the first empirical demonstration that in a nonliterate, nonindustrialized indigenous culture, people are able to recognize meaning in a language they don't speak," said Gregory A. Bryant, co-author of the paper and an assistant professor of communications at UCLA. "There is variability across cultures in how much people talk to babies, but when they do, they tend to sound very much alike." What does this mean for business? Read more.
S.F. Mayor Aims to Stop Black Flight
San Francisco, facing a major decline in the number of black families living within the city to the surrounding suburbs, is commissioning a study with the aim of stopping the black exodus and winning blacks back to the city. Mayor Gavin Newsom appointed a task force to study how to reverse decades of policies and neglect that black leaders say have fueled the black community's flight from the city. "So taxpayer funds are already being expended for the purpose of encouraging one race to live in the city of San Francisco, and by extension discouraging other races who might instead occupy the same housing. Am I the only person who sees this as racist madness?" asks Thomas Lifson on American Thinker. Read more.
Border-Patrol Chief Apologizes for 'Terrorist' Comment
Border Patrol Sector Chief Carlos Carrillo said at a town-hall meeting in Laredo, Texas, last week that border agents were stopping terrorists, not undocumented workers or drug smugglers. "It's painfully obvious to me that I could have done a better job of articulating my talking points," said Carrillo. Law-enforcement considers Laredo one of the Southwest's most dangerous border crossings because millions of dollars in narcotics is transported through the area every month. Its sister city, Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, is controlled by the Gulf Cartel, a drug-smuggling ring. Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and presidential candidate, who on Friday called for Chief Carrillo's resignation, said that his apology is not acceptable. Tancredo said he wondered how the chief could tell the difference between an undocumented immigrant and a terrorist. Read more.
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