inequality

Sotomayor, Ricci and the Preferential Treatment Myth

One of the most pervasive questions swirling around the probable confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court has been, "did she receive preferential treatment because she was a Latina from the Bronx?" Commentators, particularly from the far right, have spent air and ink to argue that Sotomayor was only admitted to Ivy League schools, received top grades, swiftly advanced in her career, and was selected to be the next Supreme Court justice-exclusively because she is Latina.

Posted in affirmative action, inequality

Race-Colored Glasses: Seeing What’s There

Even if it’s a fairly done deal that Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed to the Supreme Court, Republicans are explicitly using her nomination as a “teachable moment” (http://ninthjustice.nationaljournal.com/2009/06/conservative-groups-see-teachi.php) about the role of race in America.

Posted in inequality, race

Robert McNamara's Second Vietnam

The conventional view of Robert McNamara, who passed away a few days ago, is that after serving as the chief engineer of the disastrous U.S. war in Vietnam, he went on in 1968, to serve as president of the World Bank. In this way, he sought to salve his troubled conscience by delivering development assistance to poor countries.

The reality is, as usual, more complex.

Posted in foreign policy, inequality, world bank, Philippines

The Rich Can Relax. We Just Need the Poor World to Cut Emissions. By 125%

Well, at least that clears up the mystery. Over the past year I've been fretting over an intractable contradiction. The government has promised spectacular cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. It is also pushing through new roads and runways, approving coal-burning power stations, bailing out car manufacturers and ditching regulations for low-carbon homes. How can these policies be reconciled?

Posted in climate change, global warming, inequality

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 10, 2009
11:12 AM

CONTACT: US HIV/AIDS Groups

Serra Sippel, President Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) +1 202.393.5930 (Office) +1 202.631.8808 (Mobile) ssippel@genderhealth.org
Beri Hull, Global Advocacy Officer International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) +1 202-361-9383 (Office) beri@icw.org
Naina Khanna, Director of Policy & Community Organizing WORLD (Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease) Coordinator, U.S. Positive Women's Network + 1 510 986 0340 (Office) + 1 510 681 1169 (Mobile) nkhanna@womenhiv.org
Catherine Hanssens, Executive Director Center for HIV Law and Policy +1 212-430-6733 (Office) chanssens@hivlawandpolicy.org

US Organizations Speak Out on Women and HIV to Inform Health Policy and National AIDS Strategy

WASHINGTON - July 10 - Fourteen U.S.

###

Posted in AIDS, healthcare, inequality, women's rights

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 8, 2009
1:55 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

Saudi Arabia: Women’s Rights Promises Broken

Evidence Shows Male Permission Still Being Required for Surgery, Travel

WASHINGTON - July 8 - Saudi officials continue to require women to obtain permission from male guardians to conduct their most basic affairs, like traveling or receiving medical care, despite government assertions that no such requirements exist, Human Rights Watch said today. The government made its assertions most recently in June 2009, to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

###

Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:

Posted in Human Rights, inequality, women's rights

The Crooks Get Cash While the Poor Get Screwed

Tearyan Brown became a father when he was 16. He did what a lot of inner-city kids desperate to make money do. He sold drugs. He was arrested and sent to jail three years later for dealing marijuana and PCP on the streets of Trenton, N.J., mostly to white kids driving in from the suburbs. It was a job which saw him robbed at gunpoint and stabbed in the chest. But it made him about $1,400 a week.

Posted in inequality, poverty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 18, 2009
5:13 PM

CONTACT: CORE
Kenzo Shibata,Communications Secretary
312.296.0124 kenzo.shibata@gmail.com
www.twitter.com/coreteachers

Chicago Educators to Demonstrate Against Arne Duncan’s Visit Coalition of Education Activists to Warn Nation About Duncan’s Draconian 'Turnarounds'

CHICAGO - June 18 - On Friday, June 19th, 2009, the Caucus of Rank-and-File Educators (CORE) will hold a demonstration against “turnarounds” and other policies promoted by current Secretary of Education Arne Duncan outside of the Hyatt Regency Chicago (151 E. Wacker Drive) from 8:00 AM until 9:30 AM. Duncan is the guest of honor for a breakfast reception at the hotel sponsored by education policy group Advance Illinois. CORE will be holding a press conference at the demonstration at 9:15 AM.Updates from the demonstration will be available at www.twitter.com/coreteachers.

###

CORE is the reform caucus of the Chicago Teachers Union that represents rank-and-file members. The group is composed of teachers, retired teachers, educational staff and other champions of public education who hope to democratize the Chicago Teachers Union and turn it into an organization that fights on behalf of its members and the students they teach.

Posted in Education, inequality, privatization

World Sitting on 'Powder Keg' of Social Unrest: Amnesty

$Palestinians inspect the rubble of destroyed houses following an Israeli incursion into the town of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip in 2008. The world is sitting on a \"powder keg\" of social unrest, which risks exploding as human rights are eroded by the global economic slowdown, Amnesty International warned. (AFP/File/Said Khatib)$

LONDON - The world is sitting on a "powder keg" of social unrest, which risks exploding as human rights are eroded by the global economic slowdown, Amnesty International warned.

But its annual report -- detailing abuses from China to Guantanamo Bay and from Sri Lanka to the ex-Soviet Union -- said the global meltdown also offers a chance to rebuild an economic framework putting human rights at its heart.

Posted in Human Rights, inequality

Banks in Recovery as Home Foreclosures Hit Record

BOSTON - Just months after getting a massive handout from Uncle Sam to prevent the collapse of Wall Street, big banks say they are back on solid ground and ready to repay the money.

The banks are selling stock and debt, and racking up excellent returns on mortgages, loans, high credit card rates and refinancings.

Three big banks, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, say they are so healthy now that they can begin to pay back the billions they were given by the U.S. Treasury in December when they said they were on the brink of failure.

Posted in banks, foreclosures, housing, inequality