Prometheus 6

Justices: Whistleblowers Can Sue for Retaliation
From Associated Press
9:40 AM PST, March 29, 2005

WASHINGTON   The Supreme Court expanded the scope of the landmark gender equity law Title IX, ruling today that it shields whistleblowers who accuse academic institutions of discrimination based on sex.

The 5-4 decision in favor of Alabama high school girls basketball coach Roderick Jackson is a victory for women's advocates who say the legal protection will prompt reports of bias that would otherwise go unsaid or unheeded.

The ruling means Jackson can pursue a lawsuit claiming he was fired for complaining that the boys team received better treatment. Congress intended such lawsuits when it passed the Title IX law, justices said.

Harold Cruse has died.

You have no idea the impact this man has had on my views. Not just  The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual, but another major work of his, Plural but Equal.

Qusan points to a pretty amazing admission made by the anti-intellectual forces in Dover, PA., the guys trying to eliminate the teaching of evolution in schools.

"Christians are a lot more bold under Bush's leadership, he speaks what a lot of us believe," said Mummert.

"We've been attacked by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture," he said, adding that the school board's declaration is just a first step.

"We" are not in the intelligent, educated segment of the culture. "We," in fact, feel singularly threatened by the intelligent, educated segment of the culture and the constant flow of new things it forces "us" to react to.

The autopsy can handle the Schindler's accusations.

Schiavo's Husband and Parents Now Battling Over Autopsy Plan
By Manuel Roig-Franzia and Mike Allen
Washington Post Staff Writers
Tuesday, March 29, 2005; Page A03

PINELLAS PARK, Fla., March 28 -- The war over Terri Schiavo, once tightly focused on whether she would live or die, shifted at times Monday to arguments over how her body will be examined.

Her husband, Michael Schiavo, wants an autopsy in hopes of proving the severity of her brain damage. Her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, want a medical examination to answer questions about their suspicions that Michael Schiavo may have broken her bones in what they say may have been an attack that caused her brain injury, an allegation that was previously made.

Michael Schiavo and his attorneys have vehemently denied the accusation, saying doctors believe Schiavo's brain injury was caused by a lack of oxygen after a heart attack.

The dueling plans for examining Terri Schiavo's body were announced Monday as protesters carried crucifixes into Lafayette Square across from the White House, then visited three congressional offices to pressure lawmakers to intervene again in the case.

You know how folks have to warn you when something isn't work-safe? Well, make sure there are no fundies around when you follow this link.

Don't forget to read the comments.

Alma Mater As Big Brother
By Katherine Haley Will
Tuesday, March 29, 2005; Page A15

A proposal by the Education Department would force every college and university in America to report all their students' Social Security numbers and other information about each individual -- including credits earned, degree plan, race and ethnicity, and grants and loans received -- to a national databank. The government will record every student, regardless of whether he or she receives federal aid, in the databank.

The government's plan is to track students individually and in full detail as they complete their post-secondary education. The threat to our students' privacy is of grave concern, and the government has not satisfactorily explained why it wants to collect individual information.

Ex-Diplomats to Urge Rejection of Bolton as U.N. Ambassador
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: March 29, 2005

WASHINGTON, March 28 (AP) - A group of former American diplomats plan to send a letter to urge the Senate to reject John R. Bolton's nomination to be the next United States ambassador to the United Nations.

"He is the wrong man for this position," the group of 59 former diplomats say in the letter, addressed to Senator Richard G. Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Mr. Lugar, Republican of Indiana, has scheduled hearings for April 7 on Mr. Bolton's nomination.

Did Bush listen to the economists? No.

Did Bush listen to Union of Concerned Scientists? No.

The other day I noted pharmacists that refuse to do their jobs are part of the same Religious Right movement that set up antiabortion organizations designed to confuse women who want abortions. Today, Paul Krugman notes the pattern

Yesterday The Washington Post reported on the growing number of pharmacists who, on religious grounds, refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control or morning-after pills. These pharmacists talk of personal belief; but the effect is to undermine laws that make these drugs available. And let me make a prediction: soon, wherever the religious right is strong, many pharmacists will be pressured into denying women legal drugs.

And it won't stop there. There is a nationwide trend toward "conscience" or "refusal" legislation. Laws in Illinois and Mississippi already allow doctors and other health providers to deny virtually any procedure to any patient. Again, think of how such laws expose doctors to pressure and intimidation.

...and that it's much wider than that.

This is at the National Press Club.

Blogger? Journalist?

Now that anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can set up shop on the Web, the days when you could tell who was a reporter by looking for a press card stuck in a fedora are long gone. Both journalists and bloggers will debate whether there's a difference between them, on Fri., Apr. 8, at 9:30 a.m. The panel includes Jeff Gannon, whose question at a presidential press conference focused attention on the issue; Ana Marie Cox, editor of Wonkette.com, and Congress Daily's John Stanton. Reserve at 662-7501.

I spotted this issue at Steve Gilliard's News Blog.

Ireland Enacts Law Banning English on Maps
Ireland Enacts Law Banning English on Road Signs, Official Maps on Much of Nation's West Coast
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK

The Associated Press

Mar. 28, 2005 - Tourists, beware: Your guide book may tell you the way to Dingle in County Kerry, but all the road signs will be pointing you toward An Daingean in Contae an Ciarrai instead.

In an age where many people bemoan English's growing global influence, advocates of local languages scored a small victory Monday when Ireland enacted a law outlawing English in road signs and official maps on much of the nation's western coast, where many people speak Gaelic.

Locals concede the switch will confuse foreigners in an area that depends heavily on tourism, but they say it's the price of patriotism.

Oliver says:

It's now becoming a serious question whether Republicans are on "the other side" or not.

It's LONG been a serious question...and here's the serious answer.

Right-Wing Terror Movements Omitted from DHS Terrorist List
By Justin Rood, CQ Staff

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) does not list right-wing domestic terrorists and terrorist groups on a document that appears to be an internal list of threats to the nation s security.

According to the list   part of a draft planning document obtained by CQ Homeland Security   between now and 2011 DHS expects to contend primarily with adversaries such as al Qaeda and other foreign entities affiliated with the Islamic Jihad movement, as well as domestic radical Islamist groups.

That headline oughta catch your interest.

I try clever, literate lead-ins sometimes, but I've read a lot and quoting all the requisite set-up stuff would be annoying so I'll just list the stuff that got me thinking about this.

First was The Unbranding by Jeffrey Goldberg, in The New Yorkershugavery, one of the members here, brought it to my attention with this quote.

He has come to realize, he said, that many Democrats still haven’t grasped the political importance of September 11th, and again he recalled how he had urged Kerry to keep his campaign message focussed on terrorism. Kerry, Biden said, would tell voters that he would “fight terror as hard as Bush,” but then he would add, “and I’ll help you economically.” “What is Bush saying?” Biden said. “Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror. I would say to John, ‘Let me put it to you this way. The Lord Almighty, or Allah, whoever, if he came to every kitchen table in America and said, “Look, I have a Faustian bargain for you, you choose. I will guarantee to you that I will end all terror threats against the United States within the year, but in return for that there will be no help for education, no help for Social Security, no help for health care.” What do you do?’

“My answer,” Biden said, “is that seventy-five per cent of the American people would buy that bargain.”

Then, while on tour, I ran across Jude of Iddybud, writing at The American Street, responding to a post by Chris Bowers at MyDD that flipped on a statement about Goldberg's article in an article in which Matt Taibi basically rips National Security Democrats a new orifice. Chris focuses on this quote.

Court Declines to Review Abortion Law
Supreme Court Rejects Appeal to Reinstate Law Requiring Girls Under Age 18 to Get Consent for Abortions
By HOPE YEN
The Associated Press

Mar. 28, 2005 - The Supreme Court rejected an appeal Monday to reinstate a state law requiring girls under age 18 to get parental consent for abortions except under the most dire of medical emergencies.

Without comment, justices let stand a lower court ruling that struck down the Idaho law because its provisions on emergency abortions were too strict.

The Supreme Court in its landmark 1973 case, Roe v. Wade, ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion before the fetus is viable and to terminate her pregnancy if it poses a risk to her health.

Court Won't Step Into Newspaper Lawsuit
Top Court Won't Step Into Lawsuit Against Paper That Reported on Accusations Among Politicians
By PETE YOST
The Associated Press

Mar. 28, 2005 - The Supreme Court refused Monday to step into a lawsuit against a newspaper, leaving the media in Pennsylvania legally vulnerable when they report defamatory comments by public figures.

The case could chill news coverage of political campaigns where charges and countercharges are commonplace, First Amendment advocates say.

The justices' decision not to consider the case was a victory for the former mayor and current council president of Parkesburg, Pa., who sued when the Daily Local News in West Chester, Pa., reported that a council member claimed they were homosexuals. The newspaper reported the councilman also had issued a statement strongly implying that he considered the two officials to be "queers and child molesters."

I missed it because I don't tech blog like I used to. But at the beginning of the month, during the quarterly "where da wimmin at" discussion, Dare Obasanjo (a VERY competent Microsoft developer and blogger I became familiar with during the Atom vs. RSS wars) commented on it and asked:

I wonder when the NAACP or Jesse Jackson are going to get in on the act and hold a blaggercon conference for black bloggers. Speaking of which, it's my turn to ask "Quick   name me five black bloggers". Post your answers in the comments.

"blaggercon" is not a typo, by the way.

Quote of note:

Currently, the system taxes only the first $90,000 of income, while a growing number of Americans earn more. In 2001, for example, 15 percent of Social Security contributors made more than the taxable earnings maximum, up from 10 percent in 1983. That trend has happened despite the year-by-year increase in the taxable maximum. That translates into lost funding for Social Security. In 1983, the sum amounted to $305 billion, notes an Economic Policy Institute study. By 2001, that had grown to $775 billion. (To adjust for inflation, both figures are reported in 2004 dollars.)

"More than half of the currently projected shortfall over the 75-year planning horizon is attributable to upward redistribution of wage income since 1983," notes Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, a Washington think tank.

How Social Security could narrow rich-poor gap
By David R. Francis

Sorry, that slipped.

Quote of note:

It's commonly argued that Americans don't want the jobs illegals take. But a workforce of perhaps 7 million undocumented workers depresses wages. Those wages would readjust upward, and be attractive to Americans and legal immigrants, if the stream of illegals significantly abated. Promise of work in the US encourages illegal (and dangerous) border crossing. That's why the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 provided for sanctions against businesses that hire the undocumented.

Joke on America: Hiring Illegals

Ha ha ha. That's a good one. Wal-Mart, a company with $285 billion in sales, gets fined a mere $11 million earlier this month for having hundreds of illegal immigrants clean its stores.

The federal government boasts it's the largest fine of its kind. But for Wal-Mart, it amounts to a rounding error - and no admittance of wrongdoing since it claims it didn't know its contractors hired the illegals.

Quote of note:

In that she is not alone. As of 2001, a federal analysis of households with at least one worker from age 21 to 64 concluded that 28 million -- more than one-third of the total -- did not have a retirement savings account of any kind. The study, released in 2003, relied on Census Bureau and Federal Reserve data.

Saving for the Future
By Annys Shin
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 28, 2005; Page E01

Pamela Ginsberg was once invited to a bar mitzvah by one of her customers and danced the hora in the family circle. At the grocery store where she works as a butcher, she has blanketed part of a wall behind the deli counter with photos and hand-scrawled notes from the children she has treated to slices of turkey. When she serves customers, she stands beneath a flying wooden cow and pig -- gifts from a man who could not get enough of her corned beef.

Quote of note:

Drug makers consider the governor's plan far more preferable than the Health Access and Frommer approaches. Their plans would cover more people than Schwarzenegger's, requiring discounts for anyone earning less than four times the federal poverty level ($38,200 for an individual or $77,400 for a family of four). People with incomes above that who spend a disproportionate amount on medical expenses also would be eligible.

Most disturbing to the industry is that under the Health Access and Frommer proposals, drug companies that do not consent to the discounts could be shut out of a prized market: the state's huge Medi-Cal program, which annually buys $3 billion worth of drugs for the poor.

"The prescription drug companies have admitted with their initiative that their drug prices are too high," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access. "The question is, should the state use its leverage to bargain for better prices, or should it just rely on the goodwill of the industry?"

Industry Aims to Defeat Discount Drug Initiatives
By Jordan Rau
Times Staff Writer
March 28, 2005

SACRAMENTO   Facing pressure from many states to provide cheaper prescription drugs, the pharmaceutical industry has launched its most aggressive counterattack in California, where the issue is threatening to explode on the ballot as early as this fall.