One of my favorite women. Photo: me.
Jan F, Laura and I are bringing you NEWS. Please use as an open new thread until the next “All The News” is posted.
FEATURE ARTICLE
The Triggers of Economic Inequality
Bill Moyers.com; Troy Oxford and Lauren Feeney
In recent years, the rich have seen their wealth grow dramatically while the poor and middle class have basically flatlined. It’s no accident, argue Jacob Hacker and Paul Pierson in their book Winner-Take-All Politics. The infographic below, which draws from Hacker and Pierson’s book, explains how our politicians – on both sides of the aisle – fell under the spell of corporate dollars and re-engineered our economic system to favor the wealthy. The dark green line shows the income trajectory for the top 1 percent since 1970, while the light green line shows the bottom 90 percent. Click the orange triangles to learn about critical turning points that helped create the skewed system we have today.
This is the most amazing chart, illustrating the path our country took to today’s inequities. Social/economic/etc. Please visit this site and explore. Also, how can we make this better for all of our citiizens and everyone who lives in our country?
Argument that wives’ careers incur domestic help costs but husbands’ don’t assumes that domestic work is MEANT to be done by wives. For free
– Rebecca Traister (@rtraister) March 22, 2013
AROUND THE WORLD
Photo credit: no attribution, random internet. Horseshoe Falls, afaik.
World Water Day 2013
End The Neglect blog; Mawish Raza
783 million people do not have access to clean water. 2.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sanitation. 85 percent of the world population lives in the driest half of the planet.
Today is World Water Day. Held annually on March 22, World Water Day serves as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
Water serves as a basic human need, yet a large percentage of our global population continues to combat sufficient access to clean water. As an essential resource, water defines the level of progress and the socio-economic profile of a community. For instance, the ability to cultivate agriculture depends on the amount of water, which then goes on to determine the type of jobs the society demands for the community to produce its own capital. Developing nations that lack access to water or that undergo seasons without clean water need to plan alternative ways in which communities can provide for each other. In rural areas that lack convenient access to water, women are in charge of seeking and transporting water in spite of the weight and distance. Along with the physical burden that this task represents, women and girls around the world also lose about 40 billion hours per year gathering water.
Thank to twitter friend @hrana. I added bold for emphasis.
Photo Credit: Russell Powell for Heifer
Where Strength Lies
Heifer: Kim Nixon
Women own less than one percent of the land in developing countries, yet are responsible for producing 80 percent of the food. Bringing women together is where strength lies. Heifer empowers women around the world because a family can lift themselves out of hunger and poverty easier when men and women learn to share their roles and responsibilities.
Women, like Sunaina Devi in India, know this firsthand.
Five years ago, Sunaina and her family were living day to day. Her husband, Laxmi Thakur, worked as a carpenter, but his small income could not provide the family’s basic needs. Sunaina leased a young goat each year – fattening it until she could sell it at a local market. She then split the profit with the goat’s owner. They found themselves falling further and further behind and eventually turned to a local money lender with an interest rate of 20 percent to cover the bare necessities.
Everything changed when Sunaina joined the Rani Women’s Group.
Sex work no go, student visitors told
New Zealand Herald; Lincoln Tan
International students are being warned against working as prostitutes in a new Immigration New Zealand employment advice website.
The site, www.nzstudywork.com, aims to provide advice and support for international students seeking to work here, says Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse.
According to the website, jobs that students can’t legally do include being self-employed, working as an independent contractor or working in the adult entertainment industry.
Image w/ article.
Ford Apologizes For Offensive Car Ad We Were Never Supposed To See
Business Insider; Laura Stampler
Ford and its ad agency issued apologies for a tasteless Ford Figo ad – in which former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi is shown with a bunch of gagged and crying women in the trunk of his car – that was never meant to see the light of day.
It turns out a young creative team at JWT India, Ford Figo’s agency of record, made the spot and posted it to website Ads of the World without approval. (It has since been removed.)
Even though the ad never ran in paid media, once something’s on the internet, the damage has been done.
Photo Source: Facebook
Family seeks answers at inquest
The Age
The family of British nurse Jacintha Saldanha is hopeful an inquest that resumes this week will unravel the events that led to her death days after a prank call from two Australian DJs.
The 46-year-old mother of two answered a call in December from Sydney radio station 2Day FM’s Mel Greig and Michael Christian posing as the Queen and Prince Charles.
The radio hosts were transferred and given an update on the condition of Prince William’s pregnant wife Catherine.
Photo credit: Alex Essinghausen
And the winner is … Abbott
Sydney Morning Herald; Peter Hartcher
Julia Gillard called a party room meeting to settle the Labor leadership matter, and the winner was Tony Abbott.
Labor managed to inflict serious new damage on its present leader, fatally wound its only real alternative, expose itself as deeply riven, and subject itself to ridicule.
And it was all self-inflicted.
It was the first time that an Australian prime minister had called a party-room meeting to settle the leadership, only to discover that there was no challenger.
”This has never happened,” said ANU political scientist John Wanna. ”The closest thing would be when John Curtin died and Frank Forde was put in for a week while they sorted themselves out.”
ICYMI: I think of it as “they came at the top female and missed. Also, Gillard’s New Cabinet.
Navneet Kaur Dhillon is the new Pond’s Femina Miss India
Times of India; Bella Jaisinghani & Sharmila Ganesan Ram, TNN
All that glittered at Pond’s Femina Miss India 2013 on Sunday evening was gold indeed. In the golden jubilee year of the pageant, this colour radiated throughout the evening-from the theme to the detail in the contestants’ gowns.
Finally, Navneet Kaur Dhillon (20), the daughter of an army officer from Patiala, was crowned Miss India 2013; after Army Public School, Ambala, she attended Patiala’s Punjabi University. The first runner-up was Sobhita Dhulipala of Visakhapatnam. The 20-year-old ex-student of Vishakha Valley School currently studies at HR College, Mumbai.
Photo credit: SCMP
Hong Kong’s top court rejects domestic helpers’ appeal for permanent residency
South China Morning Post; Austin Chiu
The Court of Final Appeal ruled on Monday morning that foreign domestic helpers do not as a class enjoy the right to apply for permanent residency because their residence in Hong Kong is highly restricted.
The top court also rejected the Hong Kong government’s request to seek an interpretation from Beijing, saying it was not necessary because the court had reached a conclusion by reading the Basic Law alone without the need to refer to an earlier interpretation in 1999.
It seems there must be more to this story than this article.
The mother/sister/daughter mantra
Dawn.com; Shagufta Naaz
What we are doing, is defining every woman by her relationship to another person rather than as a person in her own right; and that relationship (by implication if not stated overtly) is usually with a man. The self-sacrificing mother who bravely sends her son to war; the devoted sister who pampers her brother, the obedient daughter who makes her father proud. These are images we have been bombarded with – in films, TV dramas and song videos; in textbook essays in school and stories in women’s magazines. Before we even realised it the mother/sister/daughter mantra had become the background score to our lives and we automatically took our place in the designated pigeon hole.
Don’t like a pigeon hole? Never mind, if you’re a good girl they’ll give you a halo and let you stand on a pedestal. That will keep you out of the way while they get on with the important stuff – like fighting wars and making a mess of running the country. Because as a woman you are the upholder of the honour of your men folk (remember the second line of the song quoted above?) and keeping the halo polished is your prime responsibility.
Free Turkish women on TV ‘inspire oppressed neighbors’
DAILY NEWS photo/ Hasan ALTINIŞIK
Hürriyet Daily News; Barçın Yinanç
Turkish TV series have been making waves domestically and overseas in recent years as their global popularity increases. CNNTürk Program Coordinator Aslı Öymen attributes this rapid success to improvements in the Turkish film and television industry, in addition to the social climate portrayed.
“I believe we depict an image of women who are free, who have a say in their lives. The women they see in the series are in a much different position than the ones in [some other] countries,” she said.
…
Q: Isn’t there a trend toward the true realities of life, as some are saying series depicting the flamboyant lifestyles of Istanbul are being replaced by series that depict the not-so-flamboyant life in the slums.A: Both are there. There are series about flamboyant lives that many would wish to have as well as those depicting the other face of the city. I personally find them very realistic. In addition, they are very professional with their music and acting. They are being exported to 50 countries including Latin America.
Photo credit: Str/AP
Beatrice Mtetwa: The brave woman who defies authority
Mail & Guardian; Jason Moyo
When she arrived at the Harare Magistrate’s Court with a plastic bag of personal effects in one hand, she joked with friends and her captors.
The celebrated human rights lawyer, arrested on March 17 for allegedly blocking police from searching the home of a client, was showing the kind of defiance that has made her a frequent target of Zimbabwe’s security forces.
An urgent high court application for her release was granted by Justice Charles Hungwe at 2am on Monday, and was served on the police 30 minutes later. Officers refused to comply.
The official line is that she is being charged for “defeating and obstructing” the course of justice.
We met Ms. Mtetwa in recent OND’s.
Photo Credit: Mercopress hosting
British Antarctic Survey has a new director: climate expert Professor Jane Francis
MercoPress
Chief Executive of the Natural Environment Research Council, Duncan Wingham said, “I am delighted to have Jane Francis join NERC as the new Director of the British Antarctic Survey. She joins us at a time in which our need to understand the polar regions has never been more important.
“Jane comes to us with an impressive track record of leadership and achievement in one of the outstanding UK university departments, and is a widely recognized and popular figure in the polar world. We very much welcome her to her new role.”
Professor Francis has research interests in ancient climates, particularly of the polar regions, and has undertaken numerous scientific expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctic, working in collaboration with research teams from many other countries. In 2002 she was awarded the Polar Medal in recognition of her contribution to British Polar Science.
The Gallery’s Glass Ceiling: Sexism Persists in Art World
Der Spiegel: Ulrike Knöfel
A Particularly Extreme Case
When it comes to art, isn’t it inconsequential whether the person who created a particular work is female or male? Yet all is not equal in the art world. For evidence of this, one need only look at the results of art auctions. For years, only one woman has ranked among the top sellers internationally — American artist Cindy Sherman.
In other words, in a milieu that has always considered itself nonconformist, unconventional, even radical and certainly progressive — a world in which feminism is part of the general discourse — women seem to be at a distinct disadvantage.
Germany is a particularly extreme case, lagging behind many other Western countries. When artist Georg Baselitz recently expressed his opinion in a SPIEGEL interview that women don’t paint as well as men, the comment sparked a debate on American art blogs, as well as in Austria and in the United Kingdom. People in Germany, though, simply accepted it.
Gender inequality in the art world is not just a subjective impression. Female artists’ works are displayed considerably less often — and art needs an audience, a chance to prove itself.
Lady Warsi confident Pope Francis will stay out of Falklands row
Guardian; Lizzy Davies
The government’s minister for faith and communities has said she is “confident” that Pope Francis will not intervene in the row between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands, as she attended his inauguration mass in the Vatican.
Speaking a day after the Argentinian president asked the pontiff to play an active role in the ongoing dispute, Lady Warsi said she saw no reason why the Holy See would change its position on the issue.
It emerged last week that, as the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis in 2012 described the Falkland Islands as having been “usurped” by the British. The remarks prompted the prime minister, David Cameron, to refer to the recent referendum in the Falklands, in which residents voting overwhelmingly in favour of remaining British. “The white smoke over the Falklands was pretty clear,” he said.
Your weekly Falklands update – BBC is almost as obsessed as Mercopress, although this article is from the Guardian.
Mexico: Taking down ‘The Teacher’
Al Jazeera
The longtime leader of Mexico’s powerful teachers’ union has been charged with embezzling millions of dollars from the union.
Mexico arrested Elba Esther Gordillo on suspicion of embezzling $200 million of union funds and using intermediaries to move money to bank accounts in Switzerland and Liechtenstein, then back to the United States, in order to buy property in San Diego and pay for works of art and plastic surgery.
Known as La Maestra or ‘The Teacher’, Gordillo headed the National Union of Education Workers or SNTE, which is estimated to have 1.5 million members.
It is a significant voting bloc in Mexico and with Gordillo’s backing – it helped to swing a close presidential election in Felipe Calderon’s favour in 2006.
Teachers: union thugs all over North America.
Estela de Carlotto calls to investigate ‘civilian sector’s’ role in the dictatorship
Buenos Aires Herald
While addressing the crowd on a new anniversary of the last military coup, the head of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo organization Estela de Carlotto assured that the law has to “begin to acknowledge the actions of the civilian sector” during the last military dictatorship.
In a large ceremony at the Plaza de Mayo, and before many organizations aligned with the National Government, the leader targeted corporations, associations and media companies.
Carlotto specifically named “Mercedes Benz, Fiat, la Veloz del Norte, Techint, Macri, Citibank, La Nacion, Clarín, Ledesma, the Argentine Rural Society, Loma Negra and many others.”
Some hope for healing and accountability?
ACROSS THE COUNTRY
Photo Credit: Michael Conroy, AP
Saplings from Anne Frank’s tree take root in US
WLOX13.com, hosting an AP story by PAMELA ENGEL
Saplings from the chestnut tree that stood as a symbol of hope for Anne Frank as she hid from the Nazis for two years in Amsterdam are being distributed to 11 locations in the United States as part of a project that aims to preserve her legacy and promote tolerance.
The tree, 1 of the Jewish teenager’s only connections to nature while she hid with her family, was diseased and rotted through the trunk when wind and heavy rain toppled it in August 2010. But saplings grown from its seeds will be planted starting in April, when the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis will put the first one in the ground.
The 11 U.S. locations, which also include a park memorializing 9-11 victims in New York City, an Arkansas high school that was the heart of the desegregation battle and Holocaust centers in Michigan and Washington state were chosen by The Anne Frank Center USA from 34 applicants.
Thanks to twitter friend @oceansdog or @oceandog
May these trees, and their offspring, spread through our land with the hope and peace.
James Edward Wescott for the National Archives
Adventurous, Patriotic ‘Girls of Atomic City’ Traveled South for Nuclear Jobs
PBS.org; Cassie M. Chew
Lured by well-paying jobs and the promise that their work would lead to a quicker end to World War II, thousands of young women came, in 1943, from cities around the country to work on a clandestine government project in rural Tennessee.
Two years later, they learned they were lending their talents toward enriching the fuel for the atomic bombs detonated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
In her new book, The Girls of Atomic City: The Untold Story of the Women Who Helped Win World War II, journalist and author Denise Kiernan profiles the lives of several women who traveled to Oak Ridge, Tenn. at the time.
Book review & news, video at site.
Naming, shaming, victim-blaming: thoughts on Adria Richards and PyCon.
Scientopia.org; Janet D. Stemwedel
1. There is NOTHING a person could do that deserves to be met with death threats, rape threats, or encouragement to kill oneself — not even issuing death threats, rape threats, or encouragement to kill oneself. Let’s not even pretend that there are circumstances that could mitigate such threats. The worst person you know doesn’t deserve such threats. Making such threats is a horrible thing to do.
2. People disagree about whether the joking Adria Richards identified as running afoul of the PyCon Code of Conduct was actually sexual/sexist/inappropriate/creating a climate that could be hostile or unwelcoming to women. (A person claiming to be the joker who was subsequently fired seems to be ambivalent himself about the appropriateness of the joking he was doing.) But it’s worth remembering that you are a good authority on what kind of conduct makes you feel uncomfortable or unwelcome; you are not automatically a good authority on what makes others feel uncomfortable or unwelcome. If you’re a social scientist who has mounted a careful empirical study of the matter, or if you’re up on the literature describing the research that has been done on what makes people comfortable or uncomfortable in different environments, maybe you have something useful to add to the conversation. In the absence of a careful empirical study, however, it’s probably a good idea to listen to people when they explain what makes them feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, rather than trying to argue that they don’t actually feel that way, or that they’re wrong to feel that way.
In other words, that certain jokes would not have been a big deal to you doesn’t mean that they could not have had a significant negative impact on others — including others you take to be members of your community who, at least officially, matter as much as you do.
Miss. Rep. Jessica Upshaw found dead at former legislator’s home
Clarion Ledger; Geoff Pender contributing
Mississippi Bureau of Investigation officials are looking into the death of State Rep. Jessica Upshaw, who was found at a residence in Simpson County on Sunday.
The 53-year-old Republican lawmaker died of a gunshot wound to the head, state Capitol sources said.
Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis confirmed that Upshaw was found at the home of former state Rep. Clint Rotenberry, 901 Mangum Drive in Mendenhall.
“We can’t really call what happened yet. I don’t know if it’s a suicide or what,” Lewis said.
She’s dead from a gunshot at his house. There is no happy ending here.
HERE IN UTAH
Photo credit: Chris Detrick, SL Tribune
Utah miner’s mother: Somehow ‘my spirit knew’
Salt Lake Tribune; Jim Dalrymple II
Julie Jones said she was watching her son Elam’s two children Friday afternoon when all of a sudden she felt drained for no particular reason. On Saturday, she recalled that the time was about 3 p.m. Then, the phone calls started coming in.
First, she said, a neighbor phoned and asked what was happening at the nearby mine. Jones said she didn’t know, but by the time she got off the phone, a friend living a half an hour away, in Price, called with the same question.
Jones said she started making calls and after several, a dispatcher told her that whatever was going on, it wasn’t happening at the mine where her son worked. Later, when a sheriff’s deputy confirmed the worst news that a parent can hear, that her son had been killed in an accident, she reflected on her unexplained feelings at 3 p.m. Friday – when part of a tunnel roof fell on Elam Jones in the Rhino coal mine near the mouth of Huntington Canyon in Emery County.
This young man was a rescuer at Crandall Canyon, the most recent official mining disaster in Utah.
OTHER
Miriam’s Cup Ritual h’t @diversityinutah
crossposted in orange.
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