Essay 619

ProTesting our Patience with a MultiCultClassics Monologue…

• A South Carolina student (pictured above, center) protested her high school’s ban on clothes displaying the Confederate flag. She’s also challenging the ban in court, claiming she wants to honor ancestors who fought in the Civil War. More than likely, she’s just a die-hard Dukes of Hazzard fan. (Oh, and the “Southern Chicks” shirt she’s holding in the photo is a solemn tribute.)

• PETA named Prince the “world’s sexiest vegetarian.” Let’s all celebrate with Chex Party Mix like it’s 1999.

• Author Studs Terkel and other professionals filed a lawsuit against AT&T, seeking to bar the phone company from providing customers’ calling records to the National Security Agency. “Having been blacklisted from working in television during the McCarthy era, I know the harm of government using private corporations to intrude into the lives of innocent Americans,” remarked Terkel in a statement. “When government uses the telephone companies to create massive databases of all our phone calls it has gone too far.” Yeah, the government should just go back to using illegal wiretaps and high-tech surveillance devices.

• Rep. William Jefferson continues to dispute charges that he illegally accepted money (see Essay 615). “There are two sides to every story; there are certainly two sides to this story,” said Jefferson. “There will be an appropriate time and forum when that can be explained.” OK, but at this point, it appears the two sides of the story are Jefferson’s version and the truth.

• A federal judge nixed a lawsuit against NBC Universal for creating a parody of hip-hop clothing company FUBU. The 2001 film “How High” featured a fake line of clothes called BUFU — By Us, Fuck You. FUBU (For Us, By Us) complained the gag hurt their reputation. Guess the judge’s ultimate statement was, “FU FUBU.”