Obama Administration Considers Bypassing Congress on Immigration

ProPublica: “The Obama administration, anticipating that Congress might not pass comprehensive immigration reform this year, is considering ways it could act without congressional approval to achieve many of the objectives of the initiative, including giving permanent resident status, or green cards, to large numbers of people in the country illegally.”

When Teen Pregnancy Is No Accident

The Nation: “A new study has found that among 71 women aged 18-49 with a history of intimate partner violence, 74 percent reported having experienced some form of reproductive control, including forced unprotected intercourse, failure to withdraw as promised or sabotaging of condoms. Women who became pregnant were coerced to proceed in accordance with the wishes of their partners, who in some cases threatened to kill them if they had an abortion.”

Is Your Last Name Arab? Hope You Don’t Want A Facebook Account

Gawker: “Over the weekend, Rex Brynen of the Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet tried to create a Facebook page for his group. Only, he was prevented from doing so by a rogue moderating process that was blocking the word ‘Palestinian’ from page titles. Facebook fixed the process and, to their credit, apologized to Professor Brynen.” Continue reading →

HIV in Poor U.S. Neighborhoods as Intense as Developing World

Colorlines: “Researchers looked at HIV prevalence, or the share of a given population that is infected. They found HIV prevalence in high-poverty neighborhoods to be more than double that of the nation overall. Moreover, within high-poverty neighborhoods, prevalence among people living below the poverty line was double that of those living above it. If silence equals death, so does poverty.”

How the Media Should Treat the Sexual Assault Allegations Against Al Gore

The Nation: “The media outlets that bothered to report on the story have hardly reported the story. With one dubious exception, I couldn’t find a single source that did what any reporter with the most basic questions about the charges should have done: interview an expert on sexual violence who might be able to provide context and comment on the likely credibility of the story.”

Six Women Convicted of Homicide for Having Abortions

Latin American Herald Tribune: “‘Of these seven cases, one was a spontaneous abortion, two others were undertaken because of rape and the rest were for accidental pregnancies,’ Cruz said.  ‘All the men that got them pregnant abandoned them and accused them’ of getting the abortions,’ said the activist.” Continue reading →

Argentina approves landmark gay marriage bill

Reuters: “We’re now a fairer, more democratic society. This is something we should all celebrate,” Maria Rachid, a leading gay rights activist, said as supporters of the law hugged each other and jumped up and down after the vote.”

US President announces national HIV/AIDS strategy

Alternet: “At a time when AIDS deaths are largely preventable, the government has provided only minimal leadership in making knowledge of HIV serostatus an essential social norm in the most heavily affected communities. And even though the face of AIDS in America is typically Black or brown, most people with HIV are forced to seek medical care from health providers who neither look like them nor understand the challenges they face.”

‘Immigrant List’ sets off fears

New York Times: “Several people on the list expressed anxiety that their personal information had been released, and said they were concerned about their safety and that of their families. Some of those on the list said the heightened pressure could force them from the country.” Continue reading →

Why Women Dominate the Right-Wing Tea Party

AlterNet: “Some of these women are drawing national attention because they have embraced a religious ‘conservative feminism.’ Among them are evangelical Christians and, according to a recent cover story in Newsweek magazine, they view Sarah Palin — who ran for the vice presidency in 2009, has five children and a supportive husband, describes herself as a feminist, gave up the governor’s office in Alaska to become a celebrity and millionaire— as the leader, if not prophet of the Tea Party.”

Mapping the Spread of SB1070

COLORLINES: “…even if none of the SB 1070 copycat bills make it out of the legislatures, the simple fact that politicians, including a Democrat in who sponsored the bill in Rhode Island, are using immigrants’ lives as political footballs tells us a lot about the state of American politics; mainly that the fringe has moved to the center and is rabidly latching on.”

Federal Government Sues Over Arizona Immigration Law

New York Times: “The Arizona law would also divert critical law enforcement resources and would cause the ‘detention and harassment of authorized visitors, immigrants and citizens’ who do not have to carry identification papers, the department said. Some immigration provisions provide exceptions to illegal immigrants on humanitarian grounds, whether the individuals were fleeing natural disasters or political persecution, the Justice Department added.” Continue reading →

Questions Not to Ask People With Chronic Conditions

Womanist Musings: “Not only do the differently abled have to deal with gatekeepers who think they know what it is like to live with our disease because they have studied it, we constantly have to deal with questions from the general public, because a differently abled status is constantly up for a debate.  It is not enough for someone to say my body does not function like yours.  We must explain why and prove that we are worthy of taking on the label of disabled.”

Economy Hurts Government Aid for H.I.V. Drugs

New York Times: “The weak economy is crippling the government program that provides life-sustaining antiretroviral drugs to people with H.I.V. or AIDS who cannot afford them. Nearly 1,800 have been relegated to rapidly expanding waiting lists that less than three years ago had dwindled to zero.”

Kagan Hearings: Gags, God, Guns, and Gays

RH Reality Check: “Kagan went on to talk the special case of ‘partial birth abortion bans,’ which she encouraged Bill Clinton to support while he was president. ‘Partial birth abortion’ isn’t even a medical term. It’s a marketing term coined by anti-choicers in their bid to chip away at Roe v. Wade. For pro-choicers, it’s disappointing to see Kagan uncritically buying into that frame.” Continue reading →