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Remarks of U.S. Senator Barack Obama on the nomination of Justice Janice Rogers Brown June 08, 2005 Remarks as Delivered The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois. Mr. OBAMA. I thank the Chair. I rise today to speak on the nomination of California Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. Now, let me begin by saying that the last thing I would like to be spending my time on right now is talking about judges. I am sure that is true for many in this Chamber. I know that I certainly do not hear about filibusters...

The Wall Street Journal got their hands on a recording of the Ricci v. DeStefano hearing that is much talked about when Sotomayor's name comes up. [audio at site]During the audio you will hear Judge Pooler, Judge Sotomayor and the attorney for the firefighters, Karen Lee Torre. There are a few interesting snippets from the audio like when Judge Pooler asks of Torre why shouldn't Hayden v. County of Nassau dispose of the Ricci case. Torre says in effect that in Hayden no one was hurt. Pooler says that no one was hurt in Ricci either at which point Torre...

When Dems talk about latina discrimination, just remind them of Al Gonzales

The New Haven firefighter case is one of the most controversial rulings in Sotomayor's record, and one that will no doubt be a prime source of criticism from conservatives. The case, Ricci vs. DeStefano, was brought by Frank Ricci and a group of his firefighting colleagues (all non-black including one Hispanic man). The men were denied promotion after an examination to determine their eligibility to move up yielded no successful black candidates. As a result, the New Haven authority decided to discard the exam results and grant no promotions. Ricci and his colleagues argued they'd been discriminated against, but their...

Gov. Charlie Crist says his goal was a more diverse court system, but in a case before the Florida Supreme Court he is accused of violating the Constitution by rejecting all six candidates for a vacancy. Crist took all 60 days allowed by law to consider an opening on the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach. From a field of 26, all six finalists were white, and every other judge on that bench is white. Crist wrote to the nominating commission chairman last Dec. 1 and cited the fact that “at least three well-qualified African-Americans applied for nomination.”...

America's racial problems are persistent and vexing, and since the 1960s, the nation has used a powerful weapon to fix them: the ideas developed during the civil rights movement. Courts and government agencies enforce legal prohibitions against discrimination; private businesses and universities fashion their own diversity policies based on civil-rights principles. Even private individuals think about race relations in civil-rights terms: we aspire to the ideal of "colorblindness," and condemn the evils of discrimination and bias... --snip-- But in the face of today's most severe racial inequities, the civil rights approach is nearly powerless. For example, many civil rights activists...

Students from 19 states yesterday filed a class-action lawsuit seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from California officials for charging them significantly more than illegal aliens pay to attend state-run colleges. The 42 plaintiffs say California state lawmakers and the University of California board of regents knowingly violated a federal law enacted in 1996 that says any state that offers discounted in-state tuition to its illegal aliens must provide the same lower rates to all U.S. citizens. California has a "unique" statute barring discrimination on the basis of geographic origin, said lead attorney Michael J. Brady. Some students in the...

Born and raised in Mozambique and now a naturalized U.S. citizen, Serodio, 45, has filed a lawsuit against a New Jersey medical school, claiming he was harassed and ultimately suspended for identifying himself during a class cultural exercise as a "white African-American."

Swedish health authorities have ruled that under the current law, a woman is allowed to have an abortion, solely for the purpose of ending a pregnancy when the gender of the fetus is not what a woman wants. Health officials also decided that requests by pregnant women for gender testing, without a specific medical reason are allowed under the country’s laws.

A former student claims in a lawsuit that the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey discriminated against him for the way he described his background in classroom discussions on cultural diversity. Paulo Serodio said that in 2006, he told a professor and classmates that he was ``white, African, American,'' which he says accurately reflects the fact that he was born in Mozambique but later became a U.S. citizen. He said some classmates and staff members at New Jersey Medical School found it offensive that a Caucasian man would call himself ``African-American'' and that the fallout led to harassment...

A Muslim catering manager refused to cook sausages and bacon because he feared he would be splashed with pork fat, he told an industrial tribunal Monday, alleging religious discrimination. Hasanali Khoja, 60, from London, said he felt he was at risk of contact with pork products even if he wore gloves and used tongs to cook. Khoja, who claims he was discriminated against due to his Islamic faith, also alleges that in a meeting to resolve the situation, a human resources manager pulled faces and made racist gestures. He said he had raised his objections to handling pork at his...

GENEVA – Nations need common rules for responding to flu outbreaks to prevent discrimination and unfair trade restrictions, Mexico's U.N. envoy said Friday, complaining that Mexican citizens and exports were being unfairly singled out. Some countries have "developed some attitudes which I will straightforward qualify as discriminatory against Mexicans," Luis Alfonso De Alba said. The World Health Organization is looking into the measures countries take in combatting the outbreak and the justifications they give, but WHO has no plans to make the findings public, said spokesman Gregory Hartl.

Congratulations to the NCAA for making beach volleyball an official collegiate sport — for women. Just what we need: another sport that is not sponsored by high schools and is played largely by people who have access to, oh, I don't know, a beach. By the way, the new sport is being called "sand volleyball," because, as the NCAA explains it, not all schools have a beach. Did you already figure out why they added the sport? Here's a hint: Title IX.

George Orwell's "Animal Farm" introduced the absurd proposition that "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." Now comes a small utility district in Texas to challenge a situation in which Congress treats some American states as more equal than others. The utility district, which argued its case before the Supreme Court Wednesday, is right. In Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, Congress required nine mostly Southern states, along with parts of seven others, to ask permission (or "preclearance") from the Justice Department whenever they make even the slightest change in any election...

It appears that there will be discrimination in choosing the next Supreme Court nominee. Not white. Not male. Not a career judge. Those were just some of the criteria senators outlined Sunday as they discussed their hopes for the next Supreme Court justice. With Justice David Souter retiring this summer, Democrats in particular said the vacancy is an opportunity for President Obama to diversify the high court -- not just by choosing a woman or minority justice, but a candidate with a resume that includes something other than years on the bench.

My next-door neighbor and I are pretty much alike. We’re both human. We both need to breathe air to live, as well as food and water. We both bleed when cut. We’re both male. We both have a wife and family. We both have college degrees. We both have jobs. We both own a home and a couple of cars. We’re both American citizens. We vote. We both like to sit on our patios and drink beer while talking about family, friends, music, and sports. We both (as far as I know!) haven’t ever been convicted of a crime and...

ALBANY -- Gov. Paterson, who raised state taxes by $8 billion last month, just cost state taxpayers $300,000 more. The state has secretly settled an embarrassing federal racial-discrimination lawsuit, The Post has learned. The suit accused Paterson, back when he was Senate minority leader in 2003, of firing a white Senate photographer in order to replace him with an African-American. The lawsuit had been scheduled to go to trial in federal court Monday in Syracuse, with Paterson, the state's first black governor, as a key witness. The case was settled earlier in the week, although a few glitches delayed the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court's conservative justices led a sustained attack Wednesday on a key element of the Voting Rights Act, questioning whether one-time bastions of segregation still should be held to account for past discrimination. The justices who were skeptical of that part of the voting rights law included Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose views are likely to prevail on the closely divided court. He tends to side with his more conservative colleagues on matters of race. -snip- The law requires all or parts of 16 states, mainly in the South, with a history of discrimination in voting to...

The following is an edited excerpt of a speech delivered last week at the Durban Review Conference (Durban II) in Geneva, Switzerland. As I speak to you, I am deeply disappointed that my colleague Milly Nsekalije, a survivor of the 1994 massacre of Rwandan Tutsis, could not share her story with all of you. The reason: In the eyes of some, she cannot have been a victim of the genocide since she is not 100% Tutsi. What does it say about the state of racism in our world when the victims of a genocide practise exclusion on the basis of...

In July of 2008 a national hotel chain manager had a man arrested for displaying a Confederate flag in his hotel room window in Concord, North Carolina. It happened that Concord's Wingate Inn had booked guests that had come to participate in the annual convention for an organization known as the Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV), a group that celebrates family ties to that Confederate service of 145 years ago. To be sure the hotel manager knew full well that every guest would be displaying Confederate flags everywhere they went. On shirts, on book bags, on posters, on their cars...

Levelling the field: deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman hopes the proposals will promote diversity Harman wants employers to discriminate and choose the best woman for the jobNicholas Cecil 27.04.09 Men applying for jobs could lose out to equally qualified women under reforms proposed by Harriet Harman today.Labour's deputy leader unveiled the Equalities Bill which will allow companies to choose female candidates ahead of equally qualified men because they are women.The "positive" discrimination move is likely to be welcomed by some people but will also spark concerns that men could miss out unfairly on jobs.However, Commons Leader and equalities minister...

The Supreme Court heard arguments in an important discrimination case brought by 20 firefighters from New Haven, Connecticut. They charge that the city passed them over for promotion, despite the fact they achieved high scores on their promotion test. Nineteen of the firefighters are white, one Latino. No blacks scored high enough to qualify for promotion. The city then threw out the entire test and promoted no one. The firefighters who passed the exam are claiming they were denied promotion because of their race.

MOSCOW, April 22, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A delegate of the Russian Orthodox Church to the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR), being held in Geneva this week, has asked that Christianophobia be included in international law as a form of discrimination and intolerance. "It is very important to the Russian Orthodox Church to raise the issue of introducing to the list of threats the notion of Christianophobia in addition to anti-Semitism and Islamophobia," deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Georgy Ryabykh told the Interfax news service. Ryabykh pointed out...

Federal lawsuit claims Eastern Michigan University dismissed grad student from counseling program for her views on homosexuality by Amanda Hamon | The Ann Arbor News Monday April 06, 2009, 9:49 AM A national legal group has filed a lawsuit against Eastern Michigan University on behalf of a graduate student who allegedly was dismissed from a counseling program because of her beliefs about homosexuality.The complaint was filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in Detroit, according to a federal database of lawsuits.The Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom says student Julea Ward was dismissed from her graduate program in March...

SAN FRANCISCO — Attorney General Jerry Brown says portions of a state law that bans preferential treatment of minorities and women in vying for public contracts, college admissions and government jobs violate the U.S. constitution.

A Texas man has reportedly settled a class action lawsuit against Hooters for refusing to hire men as food servers. Nikolai Grushevski filed a complaint against Hooters of America in January alleging its Corpus Christi franchisee would not hire him as a waiter because the position was being limited to females by an employer "who merely wishes to exploit female sexuality as a marketing tool to attract customers and insure profitability." Hooters argued a “bona-fide occupational qualification” defense, which applies when the “essence of the business operation would be undermined if the business eliminated its discriminatory policy,” according to Onpointnews.com....

My Tea Party Anthem was played and I was interviewed on a radio talk show in Alabama this morning. The host, Kevin Elkins is a black Libertarian. A few black callers said I was wrong about America not being racist. They sited incidents in which they suffered racial discrimination, one happened in 1989. There will always be some discrimination for various reasons...you're too fat, too thin or whatever. What frustrates me are people who find comfort in viewing themselves as victims. Thanks, Lloyd

What's good for women's basketball will be good for nuclear physics. To most Americans, that statement will sound odd. To President Obama, it apparently does not. In an October letter to women's advocacy groups, he declared that Title IX, the law that requires universities to give equal funding to men's and women's athletics, had made "an enormous impact on women's opportunities and participation in sports." If pursued with "necessary attention and enforcement," the same law could make "similar, striking advances" for women in science and engineering. That campaign pledge is hardening into policy, which ought to give people pause. In...

You may have seen the yard signs around town asking the question, "would Jesus discriminate?" You may also know that they are part of a $55,000 public relations campaign by the homosexual Metropolitan Community Church of Indianapolis to persuade people that opposition against homosexuality is unChrist-like. You should also know that this is a shameful campaign promoting an immoral lifestyle and that the subtle proposition that Jesus would not discriminate in regard to homosexuals is as flimsy as a house made with fractured toothpicks. First, we should not take it as a given that discrimination is always wrong. Discrimination is...

Some white firefighters are suing for reverse discrimination, and the U.S. Supreme Court has granted certiorari. A written firefighting test was given to 77 firefighters seeking promotion. “But the city threw out the test, because none of the 19 African-American firefighters who took it qualified for promotion. That decision prompted Mr. Ricci and 17 other white firefighters, including one Hispanic, to sue the city, alleging racial discrimination.” Because of the test results turned out “wrong,” the city threw out the test and promoted no one.

NEW HAVEN — Frank Ricci has been a firefighter here for 11 years, and he would do just about anything to advance to lieutenant. The last time the city offered a promotional exam, he said in a sworn statement, he gave up a second job and studied up to 13 hours a day. Mr. Ricci, who is dyslexic, paid an acquaintance more than $1,000 to read textbooks onto audiotapes. He made flashcards, took practice tests, worked with a study group and participated in mock interviews. Mr. Ricci did well, he said, coming in sixth among the 77 candidates who took...

I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art. - From the original Hippocratic Oath used in America until the late 20th Century Is there anything more fundamental than the right to refuse to kill for the state? As Americans, we have given steadfast honor to this bedrock individual liberty throughout our history. Even in times of all-out war, when millions and millions of...

There's so much confusion and emotionalism about discrimination that I thought I'd take a stab at a dispassionate analysis. Discrimination is simply the act of choice. When we choose Bordeaux wine, we discriminate against Burgundy wine. When I married Mrs. Williams, I discriminated against other women. Even though I occasionally think about equal opportunity, Mrs. Williams demands continued discrimination. You say, "Williams, such discrimination doesn't harm anyone." You're wrong. Discriminating in favor of Bordeaux wine reduces the value of resources held in Burgundy production. Discriminating in favor of Mrs. Williams harmed other women by reducing their opportunity set, assuming I'm...

RACISM! The word itself, and its kissing cousin, RACIST! are perhaps the two most feared words in the English language. They can destroy lives, wreck careers, even land people in jail. But what do they mean -- exactly? Words have clearly defined meanings, and not just in English, the language of white, homophobic, bigoted, misogynistic America. I've been told by reliable sources that in other languages words also have specific meanings. Webster's says that the English definition of racism is a belief that some races are by nature superior to others; also, discrimination based on such belief. That is the...

DETROIT (AP) -- Many assembly line autoworkers reacted with skepticism and anger Monday to the Obama administration's tough tactics, which stoked long-simmering feelings that the people who put the country on wheels get treated differently than the wizards of Wall Street.

An unemployed construction worker frustrated with trying to find work was arrested Saturday on Staten Island for saying he "killed two Mexicans," police said. Michael Franklin called 911 five times Thursday morning after a contractor rejected him in favor of three Hispanic day laborers. The 44-year-old Staten Island man boasted that he just "killed two Mexicans" and "threw them into the Great Kills Harbor." "I'm gonna be riding around all day looking to kill Mexicans," he threatened in his last call. "It all came back negative," said Inspector Michael Osgood, commanding officer of the hate crime unit, of the phony...

Multiple Law students have filed reports against University Law Prof. Doug Leslie, accusing him of making offensive comments, using harsh language and giving preferential treatment to particular students. An investigation about the concerns is now underway, Law School Dean Paul Mahoney said. . . . “I am alleged to discriminate against African Americans by not allowing them to talk in class or by failing to accord them respect when they do,” Leslie stated in the e-mail. “I am alleged to be anti-Jewish. I am alleged to use sexually-charged, inappropriate hypotheticals in class. Finally, I am rude.” . . .

March 16, 2009, 4:00 a.m. A Leadership of Cowards?Why is Eric Holder embarrassed about enforcing civil rights in Noxubee County? By Hans A. von Spakovsky Attorney General Eric Holder calls the U.S. “a nation of cowards� because we “do not talk enough about race.� I find this ironic, since the Justice Department seems embarrassed about a recent judgment in its favor by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. U.S. v. Ike Brown is a major Voting Rights Act case involving intentional race-based discrimination by local officials in Noxubee County, Miss. When the Fifth Circuit issued its...

Jan Blits, the president of the Delaware Association of Scholars (of which I am vice president) has issued the following press release on UD’s latest efforts to skirt the law in implementing affirmative action in hiring and promoting faculty members. The full text of the release follows. Press Release Delaware Association of Scholars UD Diversity Task Force Urges Unlawful Actions University of Delaware President Patrick Harker has announced the convening of a Diversity Action Council to “move boldly” toward the goals and strategies recommended by the UD Diversity Task Force. Unfortunately, many of the Task Force’s more than ninety recommendations...

WASHINGTON — Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said she aims to draw more girls to high school sports by making schools report the gender breakdown of their athletic programs and making that information available online. In legislation proposed recently, high schools would collect information on the gender and ethnicity of participants in school-sponsored athletic programs, including the number of practices, games and playoff appearances each team makes. Information on each school would be posted on the Department of Education’s Web site. “While we’ve made tremendous progress in ensuring gender equity, students and parents can’t see whether the law is being followed...

First lady Michelle Obama arrives in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2009, prior to President Barack Obama signing an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. WNBA women's basketball player Lisa Leslie and President Barack Obama have their picture taken in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 11, 2009, by Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, right, after the president signed an Executive Order creating the White House Council on Women and Girls. Olympic gymnast Dominique Dawes, left, and WNBA star Lisa Leslie pose for...

Anti-Christian: a "Socially Acceptable Prejudice" International Security Group Affirms Discrimination Exists VIENNA, Austria, MARCH 9, 2009 (Zenit.org).- One does not have to live in Africa or Asia to be the victim of anti-Christian discrimination; according to an intergovernmental security group, there are plenty of victims in Europe and America.This was the conclusion from a meeting sponsored by the U.N. ad hoc Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an international group that has 56 member states spread across Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia and North America. The meeting last Wednesday brought together experts and representatives of states in the intergovernmental...

At the Federal Register on Monday, March 9 to be published on the 10th, go down to the Health and Human Services. Then, click on the A href="Rescission of the Regulation entitled "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law"> pdf titled, Rescission of the Regulation entitled "Ensuring That Department of Health and Human Services Funds Do Not Support Coercive or Discriminatory Policies or Practices in Violation of Federal Law Here's some of the law and regulations that the Obama Administration can't stand. The Department...

Over at Opposing Views, bioethicist Jacob Appel argues that pre-implantation genetic screening for severe disease mutations should be compulsory for parents undergoing IVF. Appell dodges one obvious criticism of this suggestion - that it unacceptably limits parental autonomy - by pointing out that "Western societies have long acknowledged that parental authority cannot undermine the medical interests of a child". As examples, Appell cites the facts that Jehovah's Witnesses cannot deny their own children blood transfusions, however strong their religious opposition, and that "American courts consistently compel pediatric cancer therapy, even when parents object". Given these precedents, Appell argues that allowing...

BlackPages.com features the Internet's largest search engine for African American owned businesses and those businesses who wish to target the African American business and consumer market. In the same way that Yellow Pages printed directories have demonstarated that they are the best source of information for local businesses, BlackPages.com is the Internet's leading source of information for products and services provided by African American businesses and those seeking to reach the African American community. BlackPages.com is unique in that it features both a website search engine and business search engine. The website search engine searches African American oriented websites and...

Why is religion taboo in American schools? Christian attorney John Whitehead addresses that question. "God has become THE four-letter word in most public schools in the United States," says Whitehead, founder of The Rutherford Institute. And he explains in a commentary why that has come to pass: "An elite segment of society that views God as irrelevant has come to predominate." (View video commentary) Whitehead gained his legal insights into the phenomenon through the many cases of religious discrimination that have crossed his desk. "What's happened is [that] the elitists -- the people who run American society, from the public...

Two mainline denominations have announced decisions indicating a further move away from Bible-based Christianity. In Michigan, the new bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan is an ordained Zen Buddhist. Northern Michigan's Episcopal congregations and delegates overwhelmingly elected the Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester at their convention on Saturday. The diocesan website says Thew Forrester "has practiced Zen meditation for almost a decade," and the Buddhist community welcomed his commitment by granting him "lay ordination." The website also says Northern Michigan's new bishop "resonates deeply" with "his own interfaith dialogue with Buddhism and meditative practice." Meanwhile, Presbyterian Church (USA) representatives...

After being called a "fascist" by his professor, a Christian California student has filed suit against his college for violations of his free-speech rights.

A row has broken out in Austria after a company tried to recruit workers born under certain star signs. The Salzburg insurance company posted an advert in major newspapers seeking employees for sales and management that were born under certain constellations, claiming statistics indicated that they were the best workers. 'We are looking for people over 20 for part-time jobs in sales and management with the following star signs: Capricorn, Taurus, Aquarius, Aries and Leo,' read the ad that appeared over the weekend.

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama’s economic stimulus bill would forbid colleges -- both religious and secular -- from receiving stimulus funds to improve facilities that are used for religious purposes. The provision is found in the Higher Education Modernization, Renovation and Repair section (Sec. 9302) of both the House and Senate versions of the bill, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. According to the provision, none of funds of the $6 billion allotted to the renovation, modernization, or repair of college buildings may be used for facilities “(i) used for sectarian instruction, religious worship, or school department of divinity;...