NYTimes - Obama and the Islam Center

Obama Strongly Backs Islam Center Near 9/11 Site

BY SHERYL GAY STOLBERG

After weeks of avoiding the high-profile battle, President Obama stepped into the thorny debate, leaving little doubt about how he feels.

NYTimes - Bloomberg and the Muslim Center

Mayor’s Stance on Muslim Center Has Deep Roots

BY MICHAEL BARBARO

For reasons both civic and personal, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has defied public opinion on the project.

Song: "We've Got To Stop The Mosque..."

wow...

NYTimes - Two Articles, One Day, False Convictions :(

Ex-Inmate’s Dilemma: $2.2 Million or a Lawsuit

BY JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR.

Exonerated of a rape charge, a Texas man was offered $2.2 million if he chose not to file a civil lawsuit.

Man Settles Wrongful-Conviction Case for $7.95 Million

BY REBECCA CATHCART

Thomas Lee Goldstein, who spent 24 years imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, sued the police in Long Beach, Calif., for withholding evidence in his 1980 trial.

Edutopia - Using Literature the First Weeks of School

by Elena Aguilar

As a teacher, on the first day of school, I wanted my students to know that in my class we would read a lot and we'd read great literature, literature that would help us understand our world better, and ourselves. In the first weeks of school, I also needed to build community in my classroom, define routines and procedures, and particularly in middle school, get kids re-anchored in the purpose and pleasure of learning.

I used stories to accomplish all of these objectives and in doing so, I began to build a community of learners bound together around literature. The stories we read invited my middle schoolers to tell their stories; the writing assignments I gave allowed students to share their lives, experiences, thoughts and feelings with each other.

Here are a few of my favorites books that might be best used at the beginning of the year:

Huffington Post - "Education as Opportunity"

Marian Wright Edelman

Posted: August 12, 2010 10:10 AM

Education as Opportunity

African Americans have always seen education as a key to life and freedom. In his autobiographyNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Frederick Douglass taught us that to educate a man is to "forever unfit him to be a slave," but to deny a person education is to "[shut him or her] up in mental darkness." Douglass said that when his former master ordered his wife to stop teaching Douglass to read, he felt he was being treated "as though I were a brute."

Today, if you can't read, you're sentenced to social and economic death in our globalizing world...

NY Daily News - Dueling Editorials

thursday august 12, 2010
#1 - "Defeat Mosque Demagogues..."
by ERROL LOUIS

Well-meaning people like Gov. Paterson and Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, are wasting their time trying to cut a deal with the politicians and ideologues hellbent on blocking the creation of the proposed Islamic cultural center in lower Manhattan.

Paterson offered to help find an alternate location for the Park51 cultural center - and even suggested giving state land for the project, which would almost certainly violate the First Amendment ban on using government resources to support or establish a particular religion.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/12/2010-08-12_defeat_mosque_demagogues_why_arent_they_bothered_by_the_nearby_stripclub.html?r=opinions&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fopinions+%28Opinions%29#ixzz0wVIzTGMX

#2 - "Build the Mosque Anywhere But Ground Zero..."
by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER

A place is made sacred by a widespread belief that it was visited by the miraculous or the transcendent (Lourdes, the Temple Mount), by the presence there once of great nobility and sacrifice (Gettysburg), or by the blood of martyrs and the indescribable suffering of the innocent (Auschwitz).

When we speak of Ground Zero as hallowed ground, what we mean is that it belongs to those who suffered and died there - and that such ownership obliges us, the living, to preserve the dignity and memory of the place, never allowing it to be forgotten, trivialized or misappropriated.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/08/13/2010-08-13_build_it_anywhere_but_here.html?r=opinions&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+nydnrss%2Fopinions+%28Opinions%29#ixzz0wVIs92WB

The Daily Show and Colbert on the WTC Mosque

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Municipal Land-Use Hearing Update
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Municipal Land-Use Update - Ground Zero Mosque
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
The Word - Weapon of Mass Construction
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes 2010 Election Fox News

"Words" Video from WNYC's Radiolab

This is a very cool three minute video that is called Words. Watch it. How might you use it?


WORDS from Everynone on Vimeo.

The Veiled Commodity | The Film

The Veiled Commodity | The Film

Written and directed by Dickson Chow and Vinh Chung, "The Veiled Commodity" is a short film that deals with slavery's past and present day issues. The film employs various design and animation techniques to tell a concise history of slavery and the problems of its present day counterpart; the trafficking and victimization of people around the world. This is only the first part of a three part series. The other parts deals with sexual slavery and child soldiers will be going into production soon. Stay tuned!