Stunting Ashley's Growth: Would You Do This to Your Child?
The American Medical Association bowed to pressure from disabilty activists and agreed to meet Tuesday to hear their concerns about growth-stunting treatment performed on a severely brain-damaged girl. The now 9-year-old girl identified only as "Ashley" had surgery to remove her womb and breast buds and was given hormones to keep her permanently child-sized--treatment some activists say amounted to mutilation. The Washington state treatment was first publicized in a medical journal owned by the AMA, and her parents created a web site about their "pillow angel" last month to defend their decision. Their daughter was diagnosed with severe brain damage shortly after birth. She can't walk, talk, sit or stand and functions like a young infant. Her parents say the treatment makes Ashley more portable and comfortable and will enable her to remain with her family and receive care at home even as she ages. "We are still asking that the AMA oppose the Ashley treatment" and endorse proposals to allow people with disabilities on Medicaid to get in-home support so they can avoid drastic treatment or being institutionalized, said Chicago activist Amber Smock of the group Feminist Response in Disability Activism. Read more.
Obama Always Was a Hot Ticket
Attorney Judson Miner called Harvard to offer a job to a graduating student named Barack Obama and didn't expect to be showered with gratitude. Still, he wasn't expecting the reception he got. "You can leave your name and take a number," the woman who answered the phone at the Harvard Law Review said breezily. "You're No. 647." That was 1991, and even then, Obama was a hot commodity. As the first black president of the Harvard Law Review, Obama had his pick of top law firms. He chose Miner's Chicago civil-rights firm, where he represented community organizers, discrimination victims and black voters trying to force a redrawing of city ward boundaries. Like many lawyers, Obama never took part in a trial. He spent most of his nine-year career working as part of a team, drawing up contracts, briefs and other legal papers. The firm offered another advantage to Obama. It was close to the political action , according to The Atlanta Journal Constitution.
Is Hip Hop Worthy of Black History Month?
While riding in my car yesterday listing to satellite radio, I heard what admittedly I found to be a worrisome salute to black history. Essentially, the station challenged youthful listeners to realize that black history consisted "not only of Harriet Tubman" but also of "our hip-hop pioneers." I found this declaration worrisome on several accounts. Most obviously, black people have long sought to leverage Black History Month as a vehicle for expanding an awareness of black history beyond Harriet Tubman. And they did so by harking upon luminaries in business, politics and music that knocked down stereotypes, barriers to opportunity, and racism. To be sure, hip hop used to do this, too, at least at times. Rarely, however, does hip hop do so anymore. Read more.
Bush Urges Diversity in Spy Recruitment
President Bush instructed the nation's new spy chief to focus on finding more recruits with the language skills and cultural background to collect information on al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups. During a swearing-in ceremony Tuesday at Bolling Air Force Base for retired Vice Adm. Mike McConnell as the second director of national intelligence, Bush said the intelligence community still needs significant improvements, more than five years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The president--and later McConnell--also focused on a persistent weakness in American intelligence-gathering: a dearth of operatives who speak critical languages, such as Arabic or Farsi. Read more.
Fighting Religious Discrimination
The Justice Department is launching a program to enforce protections against religious discrimination, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced Tuesday. The First Freedom Project would increase education about religious discrimination by holding a series of training seminars throughout the country over coming months. Gonzales said he also plans to create a Religious Freedom Task Force, which would review policies and religious-discrimination cases. He said he doesn't know how much the program will cost. "One of our most cherished freedoms ... is our religious freedom," he said. "It is a fundamental part of our nation's history." As part of the new program, the Justice Department is setting up a web site, www.firstfreedom.gov, with information on enforcement and how to file a religious-discrimination complaint, reports Yahoonews.com.
Did Hillary Kill Feminism?
A new polls shows that 62 percent of women and 50 percent of men believe that Hillary Clinton exhibited strength by sticking by her husband, Bill Clinton, after it was revealed that he had an affair with Monica Lewinsky. Read more.
Both Sides Claim Victory in O.J. Simpson Lawsuit
A judge on Tuesday ordered that O.J. Simpson's income from past work in movies, television and commercials go directly to the family of murder victim Ron Goldman, but he rejected the family's bid to collect Simpson's earnings on future projects. Simpson was acquitted in October 1995 of murder charges on June 12, 1994, but a civil court jury later held him liable for the killings in a wrongful-death lawsuit and ordered him to pay $33.5 million. Most of that debt remains unpaid. Lawyers for both sides portrayed Tuesday's ruling on royalties or other earnings by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Gerald Rosenberg as a victory. Read more.
Senator Who Holds Power Balance Is Moved to Rehab
Two months after his brain hemorrhage, South Dakota Sen. Tim Johnson has left a Washington, D.C., hospital and entered a private rehabilitation facility, his office said Tuesday. The Democrat's Dec. 13 brain hemorrhage and subsequent surgery highlighted his party's tenuous one-seat advantage in the Senate. Johnson was rushed to George Washington University Hospital after becoming disoriented during a phone call with reporters. He underwent emergency surgery hours later. He was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation, a condition that causes arteries and veins to grow abnormally large, become tangled and sometimes burst, reports The Associated Press.
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