Jena

Pam has more on Jena here and here.

She notes that the "progressive" blogosphere is quiet on this. She's right and it's gross.

Also, check out the front page of the great progressive voice in print:(click for larger)

A few white kids with signs in Beglium headline while an enormous US civil rights rally is a footnote.

PostBlog: The right wing noise machine (see the usuals) is throwing around "nearly beaten to death," or an equivalent, when discussing or writing about Jena. It's useful to keep in mind this tidbit from MSNBC:

The six black teens were charged a few months after three white teens were accused of hanging nooses in a tree at their high school. The white teens were suspended from school but weren’t prosecuted. Five of the black teens were initially charged with attempted murder. That charge was reduced to battery for all but one, who has yet to be arraigned; the sixth was charged as a juvenile.

The beating victim, Justin Barker, was knocked unconscious, his face badly swollen and bloodied, though he was able to attend a school function later that night.