Frome the December issue of Vanity Fair - no story link, buy the damn magazine - comes this poll:

Q: Some protesters against the administration's health-care proposals have been seen carrying signs calling for their states to secede. If you could pick one state to remove from the United States, which one would it be?

A: California 10%, Texas 8%, Alaska 3%, Hawaii 3%, None 60%.

Take that, California and Texas. Us, people want to keep around.

Via Gawker, more dismaying news from the media landscape: Vibe, the New York City based bible of Hip Hop, shut down yesterday.

As Vibe says on its web site:

VIBE magazine is the definitive voice of urban culture, influencing global music, life, and style engaging more than nine million people around the world, each month. The award-winning publication is the nation's leader in reporting entertainment, fashion, politics, and culture features for a multicultural audience in print and online. VIBE's innovation, journalistic integrity, brand equity, and overall swagger make it the No. 1 reference choice among male and female trendsetters in small and large cities in the U.S. and abroad.

One by one, our publishing icons fall by the wayside.

"I haven't seen performances like these since last year's Douche Bag Summer  Games out in sunny Santa Monica, California".

Ahem ...

:: cough ::

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Snif, cough, sigh.

Good times. Gooooood times.

Yesterday, supporters of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) (KGIA) and Debbie Almontaser held a rally in front of the Tweed Courthouse. It was an attempt to set the record straight as well as to make sure the DOE knows that community support for the School and for Debbie is strong.

I was asked to speak because I was a member of the KGIA Design Team. And, both as a member of the KGIA Design Team, and as a white Jewish parent from Brooklyn, I wanted to make clear that the stated mission and purpose of the school is the opposite of what it’s opponents are making it out to be.

The other speakers at the rally were: Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director of the  read more »

A travesty of justice has taken place in Brooklyn. Debbie Almontaser, the woman who created the vision of a dual-language Arabic-English school in Brooklyn has been forced to resign from her position as the principal of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) as a result of a smear campaign carried out by an organization known as “Stop the Madrassa Coalition” (SMC) with a great deal of support by the New York Post and a surprising dearth of support by the Department of Education.

Debbie is a woman who personifies peace and interfaith connections, yet articles in the Post and statements by the Stop the Madrassa group have portrayed her as supporting violence and wanting to create an Islamic school. Nothing could be farther from the truth.  read more »