Troubling news out of Dallas this weekend (like there's any other kind):

"For years, it was an open secret at North Dallas' Preston Hollow Elementary School: Even though the school was overwhelmingly Hispanic and black, white parents could get their children into all-white classes. And once placed, the students would have little interaction with the rest of the students.

The result, a federal judge has ruled, was that principal Teresa Parker "was, in effect, operating, at taxpayer's expense, a private school for Anglo children within a public school that was predominantly minority."

Not to belittle these findings, as they're obviously cause for concern, but we also noticed this story linked on the same page:

"The teacher's all-girls class and 13 other single-sex courses at Lowery Freshman Center in Allen ISD are a rare find.

Less than 1 percent of public schools offer such classes. In North Texas, the Dallas Independent School District runs an all-girls high school. And students can take single-sex classes at DeSoto West Junior High.

But new federal rules set to go into effect this week could bring them to every school district in the country.

The U.S. Department of Education just cleared rules that allow officials to separate by sex if they have a specific goal, such as boosting performance. The programs must be voluntary."

So race-based discrimination is bad, but gender-based discrimination is OK, according to Bush's lackeys at the Education department.

In a bold screw-you move, made either in ignorance of or despite of the recent elections that saw a spate of extremist legislators tossed out of Washington, D.C., on their self-righteous cans, President George W. Bush announced on Nov. 16 that he had chosen pro-lifer Dr. Eric Keroack as his new appointee to oversee the nation’s family-planning program at the Department of Health and Human Services – from where nearly $300 million in federal funds is distributed annually among the states to fund, in large part, the providing of reproductive health care – notably, including access to contraceptives – to poor and uninsured women. While one might think that appointing someone expert at providing these critical health services would be a good choice to head up that office, Bush has tossed logic to the wind and has instead tapped Keroack for the job – an ob/gyn best known for his staunch support of abstinence-only education and as the medical director for the outfit A Woman’s Concern, which operates a string of crisis pregnancy centers in Boston – a group that, amazingly, openly espouses the notion that widespread use and distribution of birth control is actually “demeaning to women.”

The ongoing legal battle that will decide the fate of the Bexar Co. animal sanctuary Primarily Primates Inc. and its hundreds of animal inhabitants heated up Nov. 16 over a decision to move seven Ohio State University chimpanzees that were brought to PPI earlier this year to the federally funded primate sanctuary Chimp Haven in Louisiana. The decision to temporarily relocate the chimps caused a stir at PPI Thursday morning, says PPI President Stephen Tello. Tello told the Chronicle that he got a phone call that morning from PPI employees who told him receiver Lee Theisen-Watt and a handful of others – including attorneys from the controversial group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, whose involvement in the PPI controversy seems to be fueling distrust between the sanctuary and the state – were preparing to move the chimps. The employees told Tello they feared the move was being done in violation of a court-ordered stay requiring Watt to receive court permission before undertaking any action to permanently move or to euthanize any of the animals living at the 75-acre sanctuary, he said.

Last night the Ice Bats suffered a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime loss to the visiting Corpus Christi Rayz. Austin's Henry Kuster opened up the scoring with a powerplay goal 1:24 into the first period with John McNabb adding the Bats only other score of the evening during the second period. The Bats' Michael Tucciarone was called for hooking 1:51 into the overtime period and the Rayz Derrick McIver took advantage by driving a shot past the Bats goalie Miguel Beaudry for the OT win. This loss puts the 3-4-3 Ice Bats home record at a disappointing 1-4-2 for the season. The Bats face the Mud Bugs tonight in Bossier-Shreveport and then return home Saturday night to face the 3-5-1 Odessa Jackalopes (Sat., Nov. 18, 7:30pm; Chaparral Ice Arena, 14200 N. I-35, 252-8500; $15-35).

In a move that can only be described as the first thing that's ever made me glad I went to Texas Tech, a Texas fan e-mailed a threat to Doug Flutie on Sunday, blaming the Longhorns loss to K-State on Flutie's analysis of the game. For that extra touch of Texas class, the fan sent the e-mail, accusing Flutie of jinxing the Horns out of a shot at the national title, not to Flutie's actual e-mail address, but to the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism.

Ironically, Doug Flutie actually projected the Texans to win in his pregame analysis (thereby jinxing them). Unfortunately for the Horns, Saturday was totally opposites day.

In a made-up post-game interview, Horns QB Colt McCoy had this to say: "Sure, it's easy to blame us for the loss, but that completely leaves out the two main culprits here: Flutie's irresponsibly positive comments about our team, and of course, autistic children throughout the world."

Any casual fan might threaten a commentator and his family for jinxing his favorite team, but it takes a special breed to carry the blame over to a charity for children with learning disabilities.

In other football news, Sports Illustrated is reporting that Bill Parcells may be staying with the Cowboys for yet another disappointing season to help develop Tony Romo into the kind of superstar QB Parcells is famous for cranking out (Vinny Testaverde, Drew Bledsoe, etc.). Awesome.

It's obviously no coincidence that this story is running on the opening day of the animated film Happy Feet. If anyone needs me, I'll be at the nearest Antarctic wildlife preserve, stomping on penguin eggs.

While we couldn't attend the Community Action Network's Homeless Educational Forum today, we were fortunate enough to procure a copy of CAN's most recent report and FAQ about homelessness in Austin. Aside from being filled with useful information about how to help, it also contains some sobering numbers:

Over a 12 month period, there were over 6,200 homeless people in the Austin area. Between September 12, 2005 and September 12, 2006, 6,242 unique individuals received services from Austin area homeless service providers. (Homeless Management Information System - HMIS)

On any given day, there are approximately 4,000 homeless individuals of which 1,900 are downtown. (Homeless Count 2004)

Over 1,500 children are affected by homelessness in the Austin Independent School District. In the 2005-2006 school year, AISD Project Help served 1,556 homeless students. (AISD Project Help)

High Cost of Living Contributes to Homelessness. Austin has the highest housing costs for an urban area in Texas (Texas A&M Real Estate Center Report 2005)

Low Wages Contribute to Homelessness. Of the top ten occupational categories in the Austin area, nearly 30% of those jobs have a median wage of less than $10/hour. (WorkSource)

Click here to download the report.

I wasn't particularly wondering what porn star Adriana Sage's NFL predictions are, but nonetheless, she offers them up. (It's OK to click on the link; there are no dirty pictures on it.)

Sekula-Gibbs Sinks Further:

We noted yesterday the TX CD-22 benchwarmer holding Tom DeLay's seat until January so alienated DeLay's staff they cruised on her. The Houston Chronicle is reporting there will be blood:

The turmoil in newly elected Rep. Shelley Sekula-Gibbs' office deepened Thursday with the Houston Republican demanding a congressional investigation of aides who quit in a mass walkout earlier this week.

Sekula-Gibbs said the staffers, holdovers from her predecessor Tom DeLay, deleted records from the office's computers Monday, the day before seven of them resigned in apparent protest of their treatment.

"As public servants, they have harmed the 22nd Congressional District and they have brought shame to this office," Sekula-Gibbs said in a statement. "I have a duty to investigate."

Let us know how that works out.

Pundits Pounce on Pelosi:

Following up another post from yesterday, here's an incisive analysis from blogger Glenn Greenwald describing the Gang of 500's barely contained zeal for "the failed Pelosi speakership." As if, dude.