More for the In a Stunning Development file: an internal audit commissioned by Chief Charles Ramsey, it has been found that 10% of the officers on the D.C. police force have sent e-mail containing hate slurs, including ethnic and racial slurs, sexually inappropriate content and offensive comments about homosexuals. Some of the e-mails also included content about illegal drug use by officers, sexual activity on the job, and evidence of racial profiling. Malcolm X once said that white hatemongers had traded in the hoods and sheets — well, some of them have traded in the hoods and sheets — and taken up blue uniforms. The sad thing is how often the news continues to prove him right.

Salon has an interesting article which does a great job of exposing the horror of Stalingrad, as against the theme-park version of it that occupies most of Enemy at the Gates.

In some rather distressing news, a Surgeon General’s report has found that the number of women smokers has increased. There is some excellent work by Jean Kilbourne on how tobacco advertising targets women.

In a stunning development, studies have revealed that drug war rhetoric about crack babie might just be overblown and based more on anti-black sentiment than on reality. What a shocker!

Salon’s complete list of this year’s Oscar winners poses the musical question: Why in God’s name did Gladiator win Best Picture?! In actuality, Best Picture should have been Spike Lee’s Bamboozled, but, well, the Spike Lee bit will tell you why it wasn’t even nominated…