Links in the morning

Wal-Mart is announcing the age of Cheaper Organic Produce. LGM points out, however, that Wal-Mart makes things cheaper by pressuring suppliers into cutting prices to the bone. And this will probably translate into less money for the workers (“just offering cheaper organic food under an exploitative labor system is not much of an answer to our ailing food system.”).
•I know I’ve made a similar point myself (though I don’t have the energy to link to it) but here it is again: Fear of becoming a minority makes some white voters more conservative.
•Echidne looks at one drawback with approaching education as a for-profit business: It’s hard to analyze just how good a product you’re offering students.
•You’ve probably heard of the Stanford experiment where students playing guards and prisoners slid into their roles to the point the guards were openly brutal. Northier Than Thou wonders if one student’s conscious decision to play Bad Cop skewed the results.
•How economic equality kills people.
•Unsurprisingly as Santeria draws more believers to the faith, the faith divides into sects.
•Brandeis University has invited Ayaan Hirsi Ali, a feminist and anti-Islamist, to speak, but refused to give her an honorary degree. As LGM points out, that’s not censorship.
•Witch-hunters have killed far more people than witchcraft. So logically, having witches around is safer than having witch-hunters. Some related thoughts from me here.
•Conservatives talk a lot about how women’s subordinate role is natural. But in that case, why do they like unnatural things such as women shaving their legs?
•Right-wing bullshit is the gift that keeps on giving. Did you know the federal government had nothing to do with freeing the slaves?
•Comcast continues to claim that merging with Time-Warner Cable will be wonderful for everyone.