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MIT Must Keep Focus on Gender Diversity
Tweet Share on Facebook April 27, 2007 Comment (1)The resignation in disgrace of Marilee Jones, Massachusetts Institute of Technology's admissions director, is a tragedy for several reasons not widely reported elsewhere.
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More Fodder in the Equal Pay and Opt-Out Wars
Tweet Share on Facebook April 25, 2007 CommentTwo reports out this week are sure to fire up the debate over the gender pay gap and whether women still face real discrimination in the workforce or are making personal choices that lower their pay when compared with that of men.
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Islamic Women Fare Better Under Dictators
Tweet Share on Facebook April 23, 2007 CommentBizarre as it may sound, women sometimes fare better under Middle Eastern dictators than under so-called democratic regimes in the region.
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Thoughts on the Late-Term Abortion Ruling
Tweet Share on Facebook April 20, 2007 CommentSeveral points on the impact of the Supreme Court's momentous late-term abortion decision. In the 5-to-4 Carhart decision handed down two days ago, the court's new conservative majority declared a certain late-term abortion procedure illegal even though it has no exception for the "health of the mother."
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The Legacy of the Va. Tech Massacre
Tweet Share on Facebook April 18, 2007 Comment (1)Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, said the handgun massacre at Virginia Tech should spur a dormant national debate about what she calls common-sense gun control laws. One can hope. But the only thing that distinguishes the mass murder in Blacksburg from what feels like an almost daily onslaught of news reports about single, double, and even triple murders by criminals or mentally unbalanced citizens with firearms is the magnitude of the death toll. And so far even that has failed to ignite such a debate.
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The Search for Cruelty-Free Medical Research
Tweet Share on Facebook April 16, 2007 CommentI have seen the future of biotechnology and it is an animal-cruelty-free era. Over the weekend, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) gave its Henry J. Heimlich Award (he of the famed Heimlich maneuver) for Innovative Medicine to a researcher who spearheaded use of human tissue for drug testing and medical research.
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Imus Firing Surprising, but Only a First Step
Tweet Share on Facebook April 13, 2007 CommentI must admit I'm shocked both CBS Radio and MSNBC have fired Don Imus. Not that his reference to the Rutgers University women's basketball team in degrading terms wasn't reprehensible. But I believed down to my last axion and dendrite the networks would hang onto him as long as he made them money.
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The Imus Issue: Ratings vs. Rightness
Tweet Share on Facebook April 11, 2007 CommentI'll leave it to greater (and lesser) minds to decide whether radio shock jock Don Imus should be fired. There are strong arguments on both sides.
On the pro side, I'd love to see a self-imposed code of conduct for mainstream media denizens that banished use of derogatory terms against women, minorities, men, the disabled, and so on. Maybe Imus's firing would involuntarily shove such a code into effect. But then again, who believes Howard Stern is going to neuter his offensive shtick just because Don Imus gets fired? And would it matter to either of these guys or their voluminous progeny if they were fired, given the size of their personal fortunes? And wouldn't either of them end up with an even more successful syndicated TV show? (Or am I getting just a bit too cynical here?)
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Giuliani's GOP Lead–Sign of a New Era?
Tweet Share on Facebook April 10, 2007 CommentCould someone please explain how it is that former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani is beating Arizona Sen. John McCain among likely South Carolina Republican primary voters? Is there a revolutionary turn back to the middle among this most conservative of conservative states' primary voters?
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Clarification in Order
Tweet Share on Facebook April 6, 2007 CommentThe dustup over the Kathy Sierra situation continues, with blogger Chris Locke contacting us to correct an error.You can read our correction here.
