Question: What do $42,600 and $5 have in common? Answer: they both represent the median net wealth of middle-aged American women. The only difference between the two numbers is race; while single white women from the ages of 36 to 49 have a median wealth...
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I first learned about Mumia Abu-Jamal in 1995 after reading Live from Death Row, which remains for me the sharpest and most well-observed critique of the American prison system I've ever encountered. In the 15 years since its publication, Mumia has continued...
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Imagine you've been waiting in the grocery store checkout line for the last 15 minutes when you hear the cashier say to the woman in front of you, "Nope, sorry honey, you can't get peaches with this." Do you recognize this story before I even tell it?...
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It's no news that fatty foods are bad for you. But scientists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center found that, paradoxically, "obesity protects the body from the effects of overeating by providing somewhere safe to deposit the dietary...
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Think that undocumented immigrants have no right to due process in the United States? The Texas Supreme Court disagrees and has overturned a $15.8 million verdict on grounds that the jury was prejudiced against an undocumented immigrant due to his status....
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Apparently corporations are not only more important than historical preservation and local communities, but also take precedence over our country's natural treasures. The New York Times reports that the Florida government plans to strike a deal with...
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Marian Wright Edelman, President of the Children's Defense Fund, is part of Change.org's Changemakers network, comprised of leading voices for social change. Missouri has created a juvenile justice system that's proved so successful over the last 30...
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In rural Southwest China, women are being taught how to defend themselves against being abducted by human traffickers. The program, which is basically a non-violent self-defense class targeted towards those at-risk for trafficking, teaches women that...
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If any of you somehow find yourself within earshot of Glenn Beck, here are four simple rules you should follow: 1) Stick out both your pointer fingers. 2) Shove said fingers into your ears. 3) Sing "la la la" loudly and continuously until you’re out...
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An Afghan law that's gone into effect gives former warlords amnesty -- i.e. immunity from prosecution -- for their war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the armed anti-Soviet campaigns of the 1980s, and the violent civil strife and...
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...to mosquitoes. That's the finding of a new study that helps explain why mosquitoes seem so much more attracted to some people than others. Researchers -- who focused on a malaria-endemic area of Burkina Faso -- found that volunteers who'd drank the...
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Despite the vigorous efforts of conservatives and religious fanatics to convince us that birth control -- everything thing from oral contraceptives to even plain ol' condoms -- causes cancer, it seems those pesky scientists keep coming up with factual...
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You really just can't make this stuff up. According to the Yale University Office of Public Affairs, PepsiCo is going to fund a graduate fellowship to aid "nutritional science research" in the Yale School of Medicine's M.D.-Ph.D. program. This is interesting...
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At a high school in Rome, just a few miles from the Vatican, two euros will now buy you a three-pack of condoms from a vending machine. The Pope is ticked off: a papal spokesperson says that the condom machines "trivialize sexuality." Of course, contraception...
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In the District of Columbia, my adoptive hometown, Mayor Adrian Fenty has made permanent supportive housing a keynote of his administration. The District's 2009 homeless count report touts it as "the solution to homelessness." Permanent supportive housing,...
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A homeless shelter is a person's home, and homeless citizens are entitled to the same privacy protection as those in our country who have housing, a Massachusetts court has ruled. The case resulted from the prosecution of a 16-year-old boy based on evidence...
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While the Republicans cynically stall efforts on health reform to gain political advantage and the Democrats wrangle over special deals, too many people continue to die in this country because they lack access to care. A report released today from Amnesty...
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Lots of fun things come in envelopes -- bills, jury duty summons, gazillions of credit card applications. Wait. Those aren’t fun. But shoes are! Yes, real, honest to goodness shoes can be mailed to your door in a flat envelope. They’re fair trade,...
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If you're thinking of getting pregnant in Utah, I'd suggest moving immediately, since a miscarriage could land you in jail for 15 years to life. A storm of controversy against the original version of the law criminalizing miscarriages led lawmakers to...
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Every great biological discovery relies in some part on the animal kingdom. Hippocrates - that inventor of medicine and catchy oaths - used pigs to model the innards humans. Mendel had his pea plants and Fleming had his penicillin molds. As for tomorrow's...
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Soda drinker? Well, if you're not already concerned about the effect the sugar and high-fructose corn syrup are having on your waistline, a new study may make you think twice about popping the tab on that can of Coca-Cola. At the American Heart Association's...
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NPR has a piece out called Myths That Make it Hard to Stop Campus Rape. It is well worth a read, even if it has some serious issues that I would like to take to task, as well as some good truths. The main point is one that I think college campuses and...
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I'll admit to being a little offended initially at news reported earlier this week that some nurses earn more than primary care physicians. After all, I spent a lot of years doing a lot of work to get those two letters after my name. Surely I should...
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Seems like one Olympics finishes, and anticipation for the next one immediately begins. And so it goes, from Vancouver in 2010 to London in 2012, where the next Summer Olympics will be held. It's the first time the Summer Olympics have been held in Great...
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There are so many inspiring people working in this field that it can be hard to pick, but Fast Company magazine has tried. Its article called "Eat-onomics: The Ten Most Inspiring People in Sustainable Food" identifies "ten trailblazers" that give us...
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The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness is taking public comment on what the federal government should do to improve homeless services. While I applaud the USICH's effort to get the public's input, in the past the federal government has...
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There's reason to celebrate the tremendous progress Liberia has made since it's devastating civil war, a conflict that so dismantled the country that militias crossed into other neighboring countries for loot, supplies, and recruits. It was a conflict...
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Protesters clashing with police in the streets. Thousands marching and demanding an end to a tyrannical government. Hundreds arrested. Executions of those opposed to the establishment. A rigid clampdown on the media and press. That was Iran thirty years...
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On Thursday, the Senate held a hearing on the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would strengthen laws against wage discrimination based on gender or other factors and would eliminate employers' ability to retaliate against workers for discussing their salaries,...
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A few weeks ago, Dr. Turi McNamee wrote on this site about the strict rules on organ transplants (like requiring six months of sobriety) that cost many deserving would-be recipients their lives. A new story out of Santa Ana, California illustrates that...
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By now, most everyone has heard about Constance McMillen's story. She's the 18-year-old Mississippi high school student who wanted to bring a same-sex date to her senior prom. But instead of allowing that to happen, her high school -- Itawamba Agricultural...
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Reese Witherspoon, cool jewelry, and fighting domestic violence: what's not to love? Today marks the end week of events surrounding International Women's Day (IWD), sponsored by Vital Voices and the Avon Foundation as part of their Global Fund to End...
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This weekend, it seems like half of the people I know are headed to South By Southwest -- a top film, music and interactive media conference -- in Austin, Texas. That's a reflection of a couple things. First, that I live and work in a pretty small barrel....
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Yesterday, the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) rescued six Atlantic Whiteside dolphins off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. A total of sixteen dolphins were stranded yesterday. The dolphins were trapped in waist-deep mud, and ten dolphins...
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Hunger is a structural problem, and to fix it, we need to develop comprehensive solutions that go beyond simply donating a can of green beans to a local food pantry or dropping a few nickels in the Salvation Army bucket around the holidays. More than...
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Much has been said about the wholesale firing of teachers at Central Falls High School in Rhode Island, both in opposition and agreement. We have learned that only 50% of the students there graduate, and 7% are proficient in math. The superintendent...
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Ideas for change – we all have them. I, for one, would like to change my mailman’s annoying habit of forgetting to deliver my mail every couple of days. But, it’s a long road from saying something should be changed to making the change real. Take,...
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Whether or not you believe that homeless can happen to anybody, it does occasionally strike someone who had previously been raking in six figures. The media loves this. A person may not be able to find a new job or keep his home, but he can become a...
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Immigrants are forced to rot in often inhumane detention centers, separated from family, and unable to work for over a year because of a massive backlog in the immigration court system. Countrywide, we have a backlog of over 200,000 pending deportation...
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If you've had an interest in the issue of human trafficking and modern-day slavery for any period of time, you probably have wondered, "How can one human being actually enslave another? What's going through his or her head?" Now, here's your chance to...
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The first step in problem-solving is, obviously, understanding the source of the problem. Likewise, the protection of human rights requires an accurate understanding of where they are threatened, and by whom. As does a human rights-centered foreign policy....
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You won't find their telegenic agents gracing the teasers for CSI Miami, wrestling suspects to the ground. But across the country, the work of environmental crime units is an essential, if often overlooked part of law enforcement. Apparently, though,...
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Fact: every single thing we wear, eat, sit on, walk through, ride in or drive in, is made from something that at some point, came from nature. From architectural feats to medical miracles, nature houses us, clothes us, feeds us, cures us. It's the raw...
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This week started with the first same-sex nuptials taking place in Washington, D.C. And now this week ends with the first same-sex weddings taking place in Mexico City. Two world capitals. Two different time zones. But the same goal: equal rights for...
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I was impressed by the turnout in Berkeley and Oakland, California, on March 4, education's Day of Action. What I saw (though it was not by any means all of it) was heartening: students, teachers, legislators, and community members putting their collective...
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Reader Desiree Michaels made an excellent point in response to my post last week about how men are underserved by government aid programs during the recession. "How about we talk about ALL of the stereotypes in such programs," she wrote. "Not all who...
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Is it possible to place a dollar amount on natural habitats and the species that call them home? Ecosystem Marketplace thinks it is. And according to "State of Biodiversity Markets: Offset and Compensation Programs Worldwide,” a study the group recently...
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Grenade explosions in Kigali in recent weeks have set off a flurry of speculation about who is responsible, and reignited a discussion about political freedom (or lack thereof) in Rwanda as the highly anticipated presidential elections approach this...
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The City of Chandler, Arizona wants to use high frequency sound devices to take the bark out of the Bark Park. In response to complaints from neighbors, the city bought four Dog Silencer Pros from Good Life LLC. The Dog Silencers pick up barking within...
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As the issue of food safety has shoved itself into the spotlight yet again with a series of massive recalls, we're seeing the divisions that exist over how to legislatively deal with this problem. To oversimplify, one side supports more regulation, and...
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