Geography Archives: United States

A Plenary Address at the American Studies Association Presidential Panel, San Antonio, Texas, 18 November 2010 For Ruthie Gilmore. I am an imposter here: not a real American Studies scholar.  I went to graduate school in the late 1980s to study History and Anthropology.  My interest was in the contemporary history of India.  When I […]

Predictably, the Istanbul talks have ended without positive results.  And, it seems clear that the discussion came to a dead end over two issues: the Islamic Republic wanted explicit recognition of its right to enrich uranium which the United States (at least) was not prepared to do; and the United States proposed a plan for […]

January 20, 2011, New York — Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) issued a written appeal to Fox News president Roger Ailes to help put a stop to the increasing threats against progressive Professor Frances Fox Piven, largely incited by Fox News host Glenn Beck.  In the letter, co-written by Legal Director Bill Quigley […]

The debate over the demographic trends in the United States and other wealthy countries can be described a debate between those who care about our children and those who want more of them.  This is apparent once a little bit of logic is applied to the tales of demographic disaster being hawked by those concerned […]

  We, the Black Comet Defense Committee, appeal to all fighters against discrimination in the world: We would like to let you know what happened on a street near the Shibuya station, Tokyo, on December 4, 2010. Choi Daniel (崔檀悦), also known as Black Comet, a young Zainichi Korean sociologist born in Japan, protested, alone, […]

  Three death-sentenced men went on hunger strike in Ohio State Penitentiary on January 3 to win the same rights as others on death row in the state.  On Saturday January 15, the twelfth day of their protest, a crowd of supporters gathered in the parking lot by the tiny evangelical church at the entrance […]

As the infamous dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier returns to Haiti after 25 years in exile in the south of France, the U.S. State Department and the French Foreign Ministry have been ratcheting up the pressure on the impoverished, earthquake-destroyed, and cholera-stricken country of Haiti. The pressure is not to prosecute the dictator for his […]

A draft copy of the Organization of American States (OAS) Report on Haiti’s election, “Organization of American States Expert Verification Mission, President Election — First Round 2010 — Final Report,”1 was leaked to the press last week, and the Center for Economic and Policy Research posted a copy on its website after receiving it from […]

“Saad Hariri went to the United States and had meetings there.  Right after that, the Saudis contacted the Syrians to tell them that they could no longer continue this initiative [of Syria and Saudi Arabia to broker a deal between Hezbollah and Hariri on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon]. . . .  The Americans and […]

  The attack on the public sector through pay freezes, furloughs, layoffs, and proposed cuts is also an attack on Black and Latino workers. Cuts to social safety nets hit Blacks and Latinos hardest. Video by United for a Fair Economy. Read United for a Fair Economy, “State of the Dream 2011: Austerity for Whom?,” […]

Comments made at the Brookings Institution Forum titled “Should the Disadvantaged Be Spared From the Budget Axe? A Look at the President’s Budget Commission Findings and How They Could Impact the Poor,” December 16, 2010 I am about to make comments that will likely place me seriously at odds with the other members of this […]

The discussion of violent and paranoid rhetoric in the media is long overdue, whether or not it is ever determined that accused Tucson shooter Jared Lee Loughner was somehow influenced or motivated by such rhetoric.  Before the shooting, there had been a remarkable surge of politically motivated violence (FAIR Blog, 1/12/11).  Despite media efforts to […]

14 January 2011 Where are the ‘democracy promoters’ on the Tunisian uprising?, asks Marc Lynch.  It’s a fair question: Thus far, a month into the massive demonstrations rocking Tunisia, the Washington Post editorial page has published exactly zero editorials about Tunisia.  For that matter, the Weekly Standard, another magazine which frequently claims the mantle of […]

  It is bad enough that, by delaying reconstruction aid to Haiti, the United States has failed to give adequate assistance to our neighbor, which was struck by a devastating earthquake one year ago.  It is far worse that we have also actively cooperated in its deeply flawed election.  Our government helped impose an election […]

TO: Warden David Bobby, Ohio State Penitentiary Director Gary Mohr, Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction Chief William A. Eleby, Bureau of Classification Ohio Department of Rehabilitation We the undersigned call for an end to isolated “supermax” imprisonment in Ohio State Penitentiary.  We are especially concerned about the cases of Siddique Abdullah Hasan (Carlos Sanders); […]

Paul Krugman does a very good job laying out the issues behind the euro zone crisis in his NYT Magazine piece.  There are two additional points that would have been worth noting. First, there are powerful forces who are working hard to prevent the partial or full Argentinification (partial default or a departure from the […]

Yesterday I listened to him when he spoke at the University of Tucson where homage was being paid to the 6 people murdered and the 14 wounded in the Arizona massacre, especially the Democratic congresswoman for that state, seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head. It was the deed of an unbalanced person, drunk […]

  Excerpt: As family and work patterns have shifted over recent decades, the demand for time off from work to address family needs has grown rapidly.  Women — and increasingly men as well — often find themselves caught between the competing pressures of paid work and family responsibilities, especially when they become parents, or when […]

One year after an earthquake devastated Haiti, much of the promised relief and reconstruction aid has not reached those most in need.  In fact, the nation’s tragedy has served as an opportunity to further enrich corporate interests. The details of a recent lawsuit, as reported by Business Week, highlights the ways in which contractors — […]

He came out of nowhere offering change you can believe in, and he won. But almost everything he does is an irritating failure to act, a disappointing small measure, or a major giveaway to the rich.  After two years it was no surprise that voters turned away from him in the Congressional midterm elections of […]