News: Obama, Clinton, Civil Unions, Pharrell, Lawrence King, iPod

· Pauline Park at Visible Vote 08 crunches the numbers behind Barack Obama's dramatic victory in Wisconsin and notes "the significant progress that Obama made in enhancing his appeal with voters in the collection of demographic groups that may be termed the ‘Clinton coalition' ... Wisconsin is overwhelmingly white (87%). Obama won 53% of the white vote, compared to only 41% of Super Tuesday voters. The large white ethnic working class population of this rust belt Midwestern state makes Wisconsin a potential bellwether for Ohio, which now becomes, with Texas, a must-win state for Clinton."

· AP: Clinton candidacy fading?

· After 10 losses in a row, Obama "now has a widening lead in delegates that Clinton will not be able to overcome without very large margins of victory in Texas and Ohio and without a large majority of uncommitted superdelegates breaking her way."

· Producer-singer-songwriter-jewelry designer and style icon Pharrell Williams will introduce his own high-end furniture line "at the very prestigious Art Basel Contemporary Art Exhibition show in Basel, Switzerland on June 8th."

· The New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission reports the "state civil unions law has failed to ensure that same-sex couples enjoy the same rights as married heterosexuals" and "some employers have refused to provide benefits to the partner of employees in a civil union." Meanwhile, a spokesman says Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine "would sign a bill allowing gay marriage, but not until after November's presidential election."

· After last week's shooting death of 15-year-old openly gay high school student Lawrence King, "hundreds of parents filled an Oxnard [California] gymnasium Tuesday night to ask hard questions about why school officials didn't intervene more aggressively in an escalating feud between two students."

· Oxnard shooting prompts state legislator "to introduce a bill to expand diversity education in California schools."

· Tennessee: Legislators reject ban that prohibits "discussion of homosexuality in Tennessee elementary and middle schools." Indiana. "Republicans and some Democrats in the House" pressure the speaker "to allow a vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages."

· Apple cuts the price of its least-expensive iPod, the 1-gigabyte Shuffle, to $49 and will debut "a new version with double the storage for $69."

· Isaiah Washington joins the Huffington Post and The Daily Voice with a thoughtful piece on infant mortality. Queerty readers wonder if HuffPo comments are a legitimate forum to criticize Isaiah for his use of the "f-word" at Grey's Anatomy.

Comments

[Jim]

From the article in the L.A. Times on the meeting with school officials in Oxnard Country after the murder of Lawrence King:

Hundreds of parents filled an Oxnard gymnasium Tuesday night to ask hard questions about why school officials didn't intervene more aggressively in an escalating feud between two students, which ended last week with the shooting death of 15-year-old student Lawrence King.

In orderly fashion, one parent after another asked for metal detectors on campus, more programs dealing with bullying and for stricter enforcement of the district's uniform policy.

This article highlights a difference between a place like California and good, Christian places such as Alabama and Mississippi.

In California, the parents want to know what can be done to stop the bullying of students like King.

In Alabama, Mississippi, or other places that follow the way of the Lord, the parents would be demanding to know how students like King could be bullied even more brutally.