Month: May 2009

Where the (Smart) Girls Are

by Richard Florida

Young girls are creaming the boys in science, up north in Canada.

Five years ago, boys made up 55 percent of the competitors at the annual Canada-Wide Science Fair, a national competition where youth in grades 7 to 12 compete against other regional representatives. After a steady decline, this year boys are in the minority at 44 percent. Girls are also claiming the lion's share of prize money available each year: Eight of the last nine overall winners have been female.

The Fierce Urgency Of Whenever, Ctd

by Patrick Appel

The Obama administration has decided to accept an appeals-court ruling that could undermine DADT – at least eventually. Marc thinks through on Obama’s DADT strategy:

Obama will probably convene a commission — not sure yet whether it’ll be a blue ribbon dealy or a smaller task force — that will, under the guise of studying the “problem,” be tasked with coming up with ways to meaningfully and safely integrate open homosexuality with military service. No mistake here: the administration will not give this commission the option to decide that being gay is not compatible with service. But the idea is to build a consensus through all available means — legally, through the courts, in public, through a concerted but non-hectoring public relations effort, in the military, by conveying the sense that Obama takes the objections to his view seriously — and then, when such a consensus has arisen, work with Congress to change the policy.

But why the delay on setting up a commission to delay the decision on DADT? Support for gays serving openly is already overwhelming among the public. A three-fourths majority seems like a consensus to me. Andrew’s take on Obama’s dithering here. Clip above from Maddow’s show last night.

The Incoherent Cowardice Of Harry Reid

by Chris Bodenner

If you are going to cling to your talking points, at least make sense:

REID: I’m saying that the United States Senate, Democrats and Republicans, do not want terrorists to be released in the United States. That’s very clear.

QUESTION: No one’s talking about releasing them. We’re talking about putting them in prison somewhere in the United States.

REID: Can’t put them in prison unless you release them.

QUESTION: Sir, are you going to clarify that a little bit? …

REID: I can’t make it any more clear than the statement I have given to you. We will never allow terrorists to be released in the United States.

If anyone in Nevada is poised to run on a "Free The Terrorists" platform in 2010, here's your chance.

Beacons Of Morality

by Patrick Appel

Jeremy Peters reports on the unorganized anti-marriage equality movement in New York. This paragraph stands out:

The state’s Roman Catholic bishops have been somewhat distracted, too, having focused their lobbying energies this session on defeating a bill that would extend the statute of limitations for victims of sexual abuse to bring civil claims, and have appeared unprepared for the battle over marriage.

(Hat tip: Xpostfactoid)

Town, Gown, and Unemployment

by Richard Florida

It's clear that the economic crisis is having uneven impacts on different types of workers and different kinds of communities. Highly educated people and highly educated places are holding up much better than others.

But among the most stable places in the current downturn are college towns.

Using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for March 2009, Martin Prosperity Institute researcher Patrick Adler put together the following graph which plots the unemployment rate for various states, major commercial cities, and college towns. The results speak for themselves:

collegetown_new

Newt’s Bully Pulpit

by Chris Bodenner

The Uighurs, who were cleared of terrorist ties by the Bush administration, are pushing back against Newt's campaign to demonize them:

"Why does he hate us so much and say those kinds of things? He doesn't know us. … How come the media doesn't even verify the story? How could they just publish something like that without checking whether what he says is true or not?"

Hilzoy uses the report to debunk Newt's trope that TV-throwing Uighurs will be released in Virginia suburbs. Hint: the Uighur in question is already released – in Albania.

Children of the Crisis

by Richard Florida

The 2009 Child Well-Being Index examines the impact of the economic crisis on America's children. The study found that:

…the downturn will virtually undo all progress made in children's economic well-being since 1975. The significant decrease in this domain will also drag down the other domains of the CWI.The impact will be especially severe for low-income children of color.