Where is the "O" love?
Although the White House press corps probably voted nearly unanimously for President Barack Obama in his 2012 re-election bid, its love for him may be waning a bit. In a survey by Politico Magazine of 69 journalists who cover the White House, 51 said they believe Obama dislikes the press, 50 said they believe First Lady Michelle Obama dislikes the press and 65 percent of correspondents who have covered multiple presidential administrations rated Obama's as the "least press friendly."
Further, 25 respondents felt Obama had become less open in his second term, while only 8 percent felt the president was more open. And 31 percent admitted news coverage of Obama was more lenient compared to past presidents, while only 11 percent thought it was more harsh.
Of the 69, 63 percent had never had the opportunity to ask the president a question at a news conference, and 80 percent said they had never interviewed him one-on-one or in a small group from their news organization.
Irony, meet Maryland
The University of Maryland has caved to its Muslim Students Association, which asked that the campus Student Entertainment Events group cancel its screening of the popular "American Sniper" movie.
"American Sniper" tells the true story of the late Navy Seal Chris Kyle, whose actions in the 2000s Iraq war earned him the accolade of the most lethal sniper in United States military history.
The Muslim Students Association stated the film "perpetuates the spread of Islamaphobia and is offensive to many Muslims around the world for good reason." However, the school's conservative students group rightly responded that cancellation "promotes intolerance and stifles dialogue and debate on the subject and goes directly against the atmosphere of diversity the University of Maryland purports to provide."
The irony of the Muslim students' action is their request that students "exercise their freedom of speech" by signing a petition to cancel the film.
It wasn't the first time the film has riled the politically correct on a campus. Earlier, the University of Michigan decided to cancel a screening, but the Young Americans for Freedom chapter on campus protested and the film was shown.
Biscuit rebellion
Add the Western North Carolina county of Haywood to the list of school districts distancing themselves from first lady Michelle Obama's school lunch plan.
Haywood recently returned to serving the buttermilk biscuits it had become known for after receiving a waiver from the government allowing it to avoid a regulation that required the district to serve only items made from whole-grain bread.
"We're spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars every day throwing away perfectly good food," Haywood County Schools associate superintendent Bill Nolte told the Conservative Tribune. "And what we would like to do is not to be punished if we put the fruit on the line and let the kids pick it up. If they want the banana or the apple or the pear or whatever the fruit is, they can pick it up and eat it."
Estimates, according to the news blog, indicate more than 1 million students across the country have stopped buying the school lunches and that school districts have lost more than $1 billion in food waste, in addition to swallowing the increased cost of the food they are forced to serve.
First daughters Sasha and Malia Obama don't have to worry about that at Sidwell Friends school, though. There, the private school has a chef serve up items such as tomato dill soup, Mediterranean quinoa salad and crusted tilapia.
Nondescript criminals
Future Crime Alerts on the University of Minnesota campus will no longer mention the race of the perpetrator after complaints from students in a group called Whose Diversity?, according to a report in the Minneapolis Star Tribune. So that rape that occurs in the apartment next door? That robbery? Just be on the lookout, you know, for somebody who might have committed them.
Why? Black men are sensitive to stereotyping in such situations, university vice president Pamela Wheelock said in an email to students.
"For some, knowing they have all the information available about a crime, including the complete suspect description, makes them feel better informed and increases how safe they feel," she said, briefly making sense, before continuing. "But others -- particularly black men -- have shared that suspect descriptions negatively impact their sense of safety. They express concern that Crime Alerts that include race reinforce stereotypes of black men as threats and create a hostile campus climate."
But black, or white men, or black or white women, aren't threats unless they commit a crime, are they?
Not surprisingly, the local sheriff, David Clarke, disagreed with the policy. It, after all, makes their job a little harder when they don't know who they're looking for.