It's Gillibrand for Hillary's Senate Seat

Winning over her constituents
NYTimes: Ms. Gillibrand arriving at a farm in Cambridge, N.Y., in April 2007 to meet with residents of the area to discuss a bill meant to protect dairy farmers.
Photo: Nathaniel Brooks for The New York Times

Coach Mom loses a Congresswoman and gains a Senator: Kirsten Gillibrand has been named by New York Governor David Paterson to fill the remaining two years of Hillary Clinton's Senate term.

Some liberals are freaking out because she has the worst record of any New York Congressional representative on gay issues (only 80% positive from the Human Rights Campaign [pdf file]) and supports the right to bear arms. I would point out to my freaked out colleagues that her position on gay rights is the same as one Barack Obama's and that her position on the 2nd Amendment is the same as one Howard Dean's. Chill.

Hilariously, one blog called her "a bizarro version of Sarah Palin: she proudly touts her 100 percent rating from the National Rifle Association", which would only be accurate if Palin had a degree from Dartmouth in Asian Studies or if she was a lawyer. Gillibrand speaks in full sentences and has never claimed foreign policy expertise. Or that she can see Canada from her house.

OK, Gillibrand is not as liberal as I would like. She voted with the Rethugs on FISA and for that reason I didn't give her any money this year. But she is smart, tenacious and learns on the job. She sat on the Agriculture Committee in the House and impressed all the farmers in Delaware County by learning about the issues important to them. I hope as Senator she will continue her "Sunshine" policy and list all of her meetings on her website. And I hope to meet her at the Delaware County Fair this summer. I hope we're still on her dance card now that she represents the whole state of New York.

I Wish There Were Video

But this is a great story, sent by a Cincinnati reader to Ben Smith at Politico:

Upon arriving at the Hamilton County Board of Elections in Cincinnati to vote early today I happened upon some friends of my mother's — three small, elderly Jewish women. They were quite upset as they were being refused admitance to the polling location due to their Obama T-Shirts, hats and buttons. Apparently you cannot wear Obama/McCain gear into polling locations here in Ohio.... They were practically on the verge of tears.

After a minute or two of this a huge man (6'5", 300 lbs easy) wearing a Dale Earnhardt jacket and Bengal's baseball cap left the voting line, came up to us and introduced himself as Mike. He told us he had overheard our conversation and asked if the ladies would like to borrow his jacket to put over their t-shirts so they could go in and vote. The ladies quickly agreed. As long as I live I will never forget the image of these 80-plus-year-old Jewish ladies walking into the polling location wearing a huge Dale Earnhardt racing jacket that came over their hands and down to their knees!

Mike patiently waited for each woman to cast their vote, accepted their many thanks and then got back in line (I saved him a place while he was helping out the ladies). When Mike got back in line I asked him if he was an Obama supporter. He said that he was not, but that he couldn't stand to see those ladies so upset. I thanked him for being a gentleman in a time of bitter partisanship and wished him well.

After I voted I walked out to the street to find my mother's friends surrouding our new friend Mike — they were laughing and having a great time. I joined them and soon learned that Mike had changed his mind in the polling booth and ended up voting for Obama. When I asked him why he changed his mind at the last minute, he explained that while he was waiting for his jacket he got into a conversation with one of the ladies who had explained how the Jewish community, and she, had worked side by side with the black community during the civil rights movements of the '60s, and that this vote was the culmination of those personal and community efforts so many years ago. That this election for her was more than just a vote ... but a chance at history.

Mike looked at me and said, "Obama's going to win, and I didn't want to tell my grandchildren some day that I had an opportunity to vote for the first black president, but I missed my chance at history and voted for the other guy."

John McCain Wrote Letter Supporting State Trooper Who Murdered Civil Rights Protestor

Anniston (AL) Star: McCain wrote on behalf of ex-trooper now awaiting trial in civil rights slaying

pdf: McCain's letter to State Department

The murder of Jimmie Lee Jackson inspired the Selma March in 1965.

Jimmie Lee Jackson was part of a march protesting against restrictions to voting, and the jailing of a civil rights worker. He was shot at such close range that there were powder burns on his abdomen.

An all-white jury declined to indict state trooper James B. Fowler in 1965.

Fowler admitted in an 2005 interview that he shot Jackson, but claimed self-defense.

Fowler's trial was scheduled to start this month, but was delayed by the judge.

McCain wrote a letter to the State Department in 1991 supporting Fowler, who at the time was in prison in Thailand awaiting trial on heroin distribution charges.

Being a black Republican is like being a Log Cabin Republican or a pro-choice Republican. There is no place for you in the party of hate.

Political Contributions by Sports Figures

ESPN: Pro sports figures more invested in this presidential campaign

Database of pro sports donations

Most of the athletes (except for golfers) donate to Obama; most of the owners to McCain.

Most athletes don't give to either political candidate despite their enormous salaries. What do they care?

Here are some things to read about my favorite political athletes, Tommie Smith and John Carlos, and the price they paid for a simple gesture which was meant to convey their support for civil rights:

[W]hile the gesture was redolent of the militant Black Panthers, it was actually a plaintive cry for civil rights. Indeed, the athletes were figurehead members of the Olympic Project for Human Rights, a non-violent student organisation that transposed racism in sport into the civil rights agenda.

BBC ON THIS DAY: 1968: Black athletes make silent protest

Times (uk): Olympics: Tommie Smith and John Carlos warn of the price of protest

Times (uk): America finally honours rebels as clenched fist becomes salute
Tommie Smith and John Carlos were hailed as heroes this week but it was not so 37 years ago

JohnCarlos.com

SI: John Carlos
Party to one of the most incendiary moments in the history of sports, he's gone from pariah to hero over the course of four decades—but not without paying a high cost

SI: A matter of civil rights
Dr. John Carlos supports, speaks out on the 'Jena 6'

Counterpunch: The Living Legacy of Mexico City
an Interview with John Carlos

ESPN: Tommie Smith/John Carlos 2008 Arthur Ashe Courage Award Pt1

ESPN: Tommie Smith/John Carlos 2008 Arthur Ashe Courage Award Pt2

Tommie Smith & John Carlos Tribute

Hans von Vote Suppressor Hired by US Commission on Civil Rights

His job, of course, will be to destroy civil rights and deny voting rights to any person who might vote for Barack Obama.

TPMMuckraker: He's Baaaack: Civil Rights Commission Hires Spakovsky to Work on Voting Rights

168 More Days of Bushit

Smithsonian: Easter Island

Blogging is for people who have time, and I'm busy this week getting ready to go on vacation! So here are some links to news of the world:

That government scientist involved in the anthrax probe who committed suicide last week left lots of questions behind. The omnibus post on the subject is from the redoubtable Glenn Greenwald. A more abbreviated discussion here from Jay Rosen at HuffPo. The most interesting questions are these: Who were ABC's four off-the-record sources in 2001 who lied to ABC, telling the network's reporters that the anthrax came from Iraq? And why did John McCain go on the Letterman show on October 11, 2001 and say the anthrax may have come from Iraq? All of which will lead us to someone high up in the Bush Administration who was pushing for war with Iraq, no doubt. I put my money on Cheney. John McCain, Cheney's lapdog.

David Gergen went on ABC's This Morning with George StephaFlagPinHypocritanopoulos and informed the panel that yes, McCain's ads are dog whistles to racists, that McCain is calling Obama "uppity". You can watch the video at TPM, or here's the quote:

When McCain's camp calls Obama "The Messiah" and "The One", he's really calling him "uppity." I'm from the South, and we understand what that means. That's code.

When John McCain was asked why he has accused Barack Obama of playing the race card, and what he has ever done to advance the cause of civil rights, he couldn't think of anything to say for a quite a while (watch video here). Then he lied about his dismal record.

Today is Barack Obama's 47th birthday. He'll always be younger than John McCain. And smarter. And more honest.

Hans von Vote Suppressor: OK That 98-Year-Old Nun Denied Right to Vote

Congress Keith Ellison opened a can of whoopass on Hans von Spakovsky in a hearing by the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, yesterday. He got Hansie to admit that he thought it was OK that a dozen of nuns in their 90s were blocked from voting in Indiana in the primaries. What a firstclass asshole. I hope someone comes up with video, but for now you can enjoy the transcript, from TPM Muckraker:

Ellison Slams von Spakovsky Over Disenfranchised Nuns and U.S. Attorneys

ELLISON: Now here's something that happened on the May 7th Indiana election. A dozen nuns and another unknown number of students were turned away from the polls Tuesday in the first use of Indiana's stringent voter ID law since it was upheld last week by the United State Supreme Court. Mr. von Spakovsky, you wanna stop nuns from voting?

VON SPAKOVSKY: [silence]

ELLISON: Why don't you want nuns to vote, Mr. von Spakovsky?

VON SPAKOVSKY: Congressman Ellison, uh-

ELLISON: I'm just curious to know.

VON SPAKOVSKY: Those individuals, uh, were told, were- knew that they had to get an ID, they could have easily done so. They could have voted, uh, by absentee ballot- uh, nursing homes under the law are able to get-

ELLISON: . . . Mr. von Spakovsky, are you aware that a 98-year old nun was turned away from the polls by a-

VON SPAKOVSKY: They all had passports-

ELLISON: Excuse me.

VON SPAKOVSKY: They had expired passports which meant that they could have gotten-

ELLISON: Mr. von Spakovsky, do you know a 98-year old nun was turned away from the polls by a sister who's in her order and who knew her, but had to turn her away because she didn't have a government-issued ID? That's okay with you?

VON SPAKOVSKY: Yes. . .

Happy 90th Birthday, Nelson Mandela

Medal of Freedom: Nelson and Winnie Mandela show off their firstborn daughter, Zindzi, at their home in Orlando West, Soweto in 1961. Mandela fled into exile overseas as the political situation in South Africa worsened, returning from exile eventually, only to be arrested and to be sentenced to life imprisonment in what became known as the Rivonia Trial. He served 27 years in prison before his release in 1992, after which he was elected president of South Africa.

A courageous lawyer who changed the world. He fought against apartheid and for civil rights, ultimately sacrificing 27 years of his life (ages 44 through 71) in jail for his beliefs. Here's his bio as compiled by the Nobel Peace Prize committee:

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa on July 18, 1918. His father was Chief Henry Mandela of the Tembu Tribe. Mandela himself was educated at University College of Fort Hare and the University of Witwatersrand and qualified in law in 1942. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948. He went on trial for treason in 1956-1961 and was acquitted in 1961.

After the banning of the ANC in 1960, Nelson Mandela argued for the setting up of a military wing within the ANC. In June 1961, the ANC executive considered his proposal on the use of violent tactics and agreed that those members who wished to involve themselves in Mandela's campaign would not be stopped from doing so by the ANC. This led to the formation of Umkhonto we Sizwe. Mandela was arrested in 1962 and sentenced to five years' imprisonment with hard labour. In 1963, when many fellow leaders of the ANC and the Umkhonto we Sizwe were arrested, Mandela was brought to stand trial with them for plotting to overthrow the government by violence. His statement from the dock received considerable international publicity. On June 12, 1964, eight of the accused, including Mandela, were sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison, off Cape Town; thereafter, he was at Pollsmoor Prison, nearby on the mainland.

During his years in prison, Nelson Mandela's reputation grew steadily. He was widely accepted as the most significant black leader in South Africa and became a potent symbol of resistance as the anti-apartheid movement gathered strength. He consistently refused to compromise his political position to obtain his freedom.

Nelson Mandela was released on February 11, 1990. After his release, he plunged himself wholeheartedly into his life's work, striving to attain the goals he and others had set out almost four decades earlier. In 1991, at the first national conference of the ANC held inside South Africa after the organization had been banned in 1960, Mandela was elected President of the ANC while his lifelong friend and colleague, Oliver Tambo, became the organisation's National Chairperson.

My law school class fought to give him an honorary degree in 1988. (The school divested in companies that invested in South Africa after many student protests in 1985). We were the fifth and final class to propose giving the imprisoned ANC leader the degree. One of the excuses the school used to deny it in an earlier year was that Mandela could not appear in person to accept it. (That would bar all political prisoners, wouldn't it?) I remember weeping in front of my TV in 1990 when he was finally released.

His courage stands in great contrast to most of the so-called "leaders" in public life today.

BBC: Audio slideshow: Nelson Mandela at 90

Independent (SA): Desmond Tutu: How blessed we've been to have Nelson Mandela

wikipedia: Nelson Mandela

Clinton and the Florida Primary: Against It Before She Was For It

Then
Now
In 2007 Hillary Clinton signed the DNC pledge saying that she would not campaign in Florida; nor would she participate in the Florida primary. She issued this press release on September 1, 2007:

9/1/2007

Clinton Campaign Statement on the Four State Pledge

The following is a statement by Clinton Campaign Manager Patti Solis Doyle.

"We believe Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina play a unique and special role in the nominating process.

And we believe the DNC’s rules and its calendar provide the necessary structure to respect and honor that role.

Thus, we will be signing the pledge to adhere to the DNC approved nominating calendar.

Many Democrats elected not to participate in the Florida primary, as they knew that under DNC rules the primary would not count.

Neither Clinton nor Obama campaigned in Florida, and Clinton won the state overwhelmingly. Now that she is behind in the delegate count, she wants those delegates counted based on the primary she agreed that she would not participate in -- last year, when she thought the nomination would be hers after Super Tuesday.

Yesterday Clinton, who originally was in favor of stripping Florida of its delegates, argued that not seating the Florida delegation based on the primary she promised not to participate in, was like the struggles against: women's suffrage, civil rights, Florida 2000, and Zimbabwe.

Since no one has died during the Florida delegation fight, these claims are patently absurd. I wish Clinton would just drop out. She lost. She hired a poor team to run her campaign, and they ran her into the ground. I don't like the way the DNC handled Florida and Michigan, but that doesn't mean that her way is correct either.

I want the Democrats to stop spending money on primary foolishness and move on to the general election.

Surrender Hillary. For the good of the party; for the good of the country.

Hans von Vote Suppressor Steps Down

San Francisco Chronicle: FEC nominee withdraws name

President Bush's contentious nominee for the Federal Election Commission removed his name from consideration Friday, potentially ending a lengthy stalemate that had paralyzed the work of the agency.

Hans von Spakovsky, a former Justice Department official who never had Democratic support to win confirmation, withdrew his nomination, saying it was time for the protracted deadlock to end.

[]

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., welcomed von Spakovsky's withdrawal. Democrats have charged that von Spakovsky tried to suppress voter participation through new restrictions such as voter identification laws and voter roll purges.

"Democrats stood united in their opposition to von Spakovsky because of his long and well-documented history of working to suppress the rights of minorities and the elderly to vote," Reid said. "He was not qualified to hold any position of trust in our government."

Why he had to go (short version, via Talking Points Memo, go there for links to supporting articles):

To remind you of some of the lowlights of Spakovsky's career at the Justice Department: his attempt to disenfranchise thousands of voters in Arizona singlehandedly (and then his false testimony to Congress about that), his petty attempts to retaliate against Department employees who did not agree with his legal philosophy (and his contested testimony about that), and his advisory letters that led to restrictive voter roll policies in a number of states.

Cali Catching Up With Massachusetts

Supreme Court of California

NYTimes: California Supreme Court Overturns Gay Marriage Ban

Here's the actual opinion (pdf): In Re MARRIAGE CASES [Six consolidated appeals]

Must-See TV

Earl Monroe: Clips from Philadelphia's Baker League; He Got Game; Winston-Salem State; Baltimore Bullets; NY Knicks.

ESPN will be showing the second part of their new two-part documentary, Black Magic, tomorrow at 9:00 p.m. It's about the civil rights movement and how black basketball players first, got to play and then changed basketball.

I only caught the last half hour tonight (thanks to this post on BoingBoing) and was entranced. College footage of
Dennis Barnett, Willis Reed, Bob Love, and other great players, and lots of interviews.

Tomorrow night will feature the story of Earl The Pearl Monroe, Black Magic himself. When I was a kid I saw him play for the Baltimore Bullets in Madison Square Garden against the Knicks, before he was traded to the Knicks in 1971. I remember being surprised to hear the black people sitting around us high in the cheap seats calling The Pearl "Magic". The white announcers always called Monroe Pearl, never Magic. This was my first introduction to the fact that there was a black culture and I knew very little about it.

Huge Victory for Civil Rights in Massachusetts

Mary Marra of Haverhill, a supporter of same-sex marriage, blew bubbles as she and hundreds of others demonstrated before the vote on putting the gay marriage amendment on the ballot.
(Globe Staff Photo / John Tlumacki)
Huge victory for civil rights in Massachusetts today, where the proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage was defeated. The vote was 151 to 45; the opponents of gay marriage needed 50 votes to have the question placed on the November ballot. So we will not vote on the civil rights of our fellow citizens. The decision of the Supreme Judicial Court stands:

MARSHALL, C.J. Marriage is a vital social institution. The exclusive commitment of two individuals to each other nurtures love and mutual support; it brings stability to our society. For those who choose to marry, and for their children, marriage provides an abundance of legal, financial, and social benefits. In return it imposes weighty legal, financial, and social obligations. The question before us is whether, consistent with the Massachusetts Constitution, the Commonwealth may deny the protections, benefits, and obligations conferred by civil marriage to two individuals of the same sex who wish to marry. We conclude that it may not. The Massachusetts Constitution affirms the dignity and equality of all individuals. It forbids the creation of second-class citizens. In reaching our conclusion we have given full deference to the arguments made by the Commonwealth. But it has failed to identify any constitutionally adequate reason for denying civil marriage to same-sex couples.

Boston Globe: Legislators vote to defeat same-sex marriage ban

The Herald's view: Lawmakers vote to kill anti-gay marriage question

Job Well Done, Mass Equality

Mass Equality, the group that lead the fight to keep gay marriage the law in Massachusetts, produced some very effective ads that I saw several times on television in the last few weeks. The first one was my favorite. (For some reason the Youtube versions of the ads all end about 10 seconds before the final tag lines, but you get the essence.)

Today's Hearing on Hans von Vote Suppressor

I didn't get to see the Rules Committee hearing on von Spakovsky's nomination to the Federal Election Commission today, so here is a round-up of reactions.

McClatchy wins both the headline and reporting award with this story:

McClatchy: U.S. ATTORNEYS
Ex-Justice Dept. lawyer can't recall his role in controversial policies

WASHINGTON - Another former Justice Department lawyer went before Congress on Wednesday with few answers for his Democratic interrogators and a spotty memory.

Hans von Spakovsky, who's seeking a full six-year term on the Federal Election Commission, deflected questions about whether he undermined voting rights laws, saying, "I was not the decision maker in the front office of the Civil Rights Division."

Time and again during his confirmation hearing, he cited either the attorney-client privilege or a cloudy memory for his purported role in restricting minorities' voting rights.

Von Spakovsky couldn't remember blocking an investigation into complaints that a Minnesota Republican official was discriminating against Native American voters before the 2004 election.

Under oath, he also said he didn't recall seeing data from the state of Georgia that would have undercut a push by senior officials within the Civil Rights Division to approve the state's tough new law requiring photo IDs of all voters. The data showed that 300,000 Georgia voters lacked driver's licenses. A federal judge later threw out the law as unconstitutional.

John Lewis, who spilled his blood for voting rights, and other Georgia Democrats have opposed von Spakovsky's nomination, 'saying his appointment "could potentially turn back the clock on 50 years of progress" in voting rights.'

salon.com: The grilling of von Spakovsky

NYTimes Editorial: Another Sorry Ascension

[] President Bush gave him a recess appointment to the commission last year. The new Democratic-controlled Senate now has the opportunity to strike a blow against electoral skullduggery with a blunt rejection of Mr. Spakovsky’s nomination for a full six-year term.

Slate: Implausible Deniability
The Internet foils fudging by three "voter fraud" warriors.

Senator Dick Durbin questions von Spakovsky:

Can't Compromise With Crackpots

Short Digby: You can't compromise with crackpots. The anti-intellectuals who oppose abortion, evolution and gay marriage are just plain wrong.

Just go read Digby.

RIP Charles Langford, Lawyer for Rosa Parks

Rosa Parks leaving the Montgomery courthouse with her attorney, Charles Langford. Feb. 22, 1956. (photo via Academy of Achievement)

Farewell to a lawyer whose work changed our world.

Montgomery (AL) Advertiser: Editorial: Langford crucial to bus boycott

[H]e was best known as one of the attorneys for Rosa Parks and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the Montgomery Bus Boycott that began in 1955.

Langford assisted another young black lawyer, Fred Gray, in representing Parks during her trial and appeal for refusing to give up her seat on a city bus.

Langford and Gray also represented King and about 90 other Montgomerians when they were accused of violating the state's anti-boycott law.

Langford also was one of the team of attorneys who filed the Browder vs. Gayle lawsuit that ultimately resulted in Montgomery's segregated bus system being declared unconstitutional. The ruling ended the bus boycott after 381 days and served as a major step toward ending racial discrimination in public transportation nationally.

Montgomery (AL) Advertiser: Civil rights lawyer, veteran lawmaker Charles Langford dies

LATimes: Charles Langford, 84; Rosa Parks' lawyer and Alabama politician

WaPo: Alabama Senator Charles Langford; Rosa Parks's Lawyer

MontgomeryBoycott.com

The Mittwit Has The Media A-Twitter

Wikipedia: Mormon underwear (from Andrew Sullivan, time.com)
Mitt Romney is a liar, he's a hypocrite, and he wears funny Mormon underwear (we're pretty sure). His company, Bain Capital Partners, just bought ClearChannel, so maybe he'll make some money in his doomed Presidential campaign. He zigged left here, he's zigging right on the campaign trail, but he's got no core. Just another corporate tool.

David Broder apparently didn't dig deep enough to realize that the Mittwit ran as a moderate when he ran for Mass. governor, before he began running against our state as a Presidential candidate. WaPo: Romney Leaving Mass. With Mixed Record: As Governor Eyes National Stage, He Faces Scrutiny of His Performance at Home

....Romney is a staunch conservative....

Joan Vennochi of the Boston Globe apparently has access to The Google:

Boston Globe: JOAN VENNOCHI
Romney's dance to the right

When he ran against Ted Kennedy for the Senate in 1994, Romney wrote a letter to the Massachusetts Log Cabin Club, pledging that as "we seek to establish full equality for American gay and lesbian citizens, I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent." During that same campaign, Romney was accused of once describing gay people as "perverse." In response, Romney's campaign vehemently denied that he used the word "perverse" and said that he respected "all people regardless of their race, creed, or sexual orientation."

While running for governor in 2002, Romney and his running mate, Kerry Healey, distributed pink fliers at a Gay Pride parade, declaring "Mitt and Kerry wish you a great Pride weekend." He backed domestic partner benefits for public employees, winning the endorsement of the national Log Cabin Republicans. In his inaugural speech, he promised to defend civil rights "regardless of gender, sexual orientation, or race."

As governor, he appointed openly gay and lesbian people to high-profile administration positions. He doubled the budget line item for the Governor's Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth, until he tried to disband it last May -- more political theater for the Republican right.

But why didn't the Boston Globe dig up the sacred Mormon underwear for the last gubernatorial campaign? Why didn't Shannon O'Brien? Inquiring minds wanted to know.

Andrew Sullivan: Mormon Sacred Underwear

First Round: Anucha Browne Sanders 1, Knicks/Isiah Thomas 0

The EEOC, the federal administrative agency that enforces employment law, has found "probable cause" to believe Anucha Browne Sanders was sexually harassed by Isiah Thomas, and that the New York Knicks retaliated against her by firing her when she complained.

Under Title VII, the federal employment law, and under New York State law, a plaintiff is required to present her claims at the agency level first prior to going to court. Because of the very short time limits to file employment cases, her case is also filed in federal court, and according to these articles settlement discussions have been initiated there.

The probable cause finding by the EEOC is admissible in court, but that doesn't mean that the case is over, or that Sanders will necessarily win at trial. At trial it is just another piece of evidence in her favor.

This is the result I expected, as Browne Sanders is a respected professional with years of accomplishments on her resume, and she has one of the best plaintiff's employment law firms in New York City representing her. They wouldn't have taken her claim if it wasn't a winner. However, the EEOC doesn't always get it right; the agency has been under attack from within for years, as the Bush Administration has choked off funds and prefers the agency to bring cases for whites claiming reverse discrimination. So it is a victory for her to get this ruling.

It will be interesting to see if the Knicks continue to take this hard stand, or if they face reality and put some real money on the table. They can take this to trial, but they'll lose. Isiah Thomas hasn't had a winner since he left the court for the Detroit Pistons. He destroyed the CBA, tried to destroy the Indiana Pacers (he was interrupted from the mission when GM Larry Bird fired his ass), and is in the process of destroying the New York Knicks. You've got to have a big ego to fire Larry Brown.

NYTimes: [EEOC] Report Supports Claims in Suit Against Thomas

The commission’s investigation supported Browne Sanders’s contention that she had been a victim of more than one incident of harassment and that “she was subjected to a hostile work environment including, but not limited to, severe and pervasive verbal sexual harassment.”

The determination, by Spencer H. Lewis Jr., the district director of the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission]’s New York office, said the Garden had failed to take “reasonable care to prevent or correct discrimination and harassment in the workplace.”

Lewis made his determination last Friday, and it was released yesterday. His two-page letter did not describe the scope of the commission’s investigation or name witnesses.

Lewis found that the commission’s inquiry supported Browne Sanders’s contention that the Garden had fired her in retaliation for reporting her claims to her supervisors. Lewis also wrote that there was probable cause to believe the Garden violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Garden, but not Thomas, was the subject named in the commission’s investigation.

NYDaily News: Ruling supports accuser's suit

Newsday: Point for MSG accuser
Agency affirms executive's claim she was harassed, fired for complaining and clears way for settlement talks

SI: Mess at MSG
EEOC: Evidence supports Knicks exec's claims

It's Football, Stupid, Not Title IX

John Tierney gets it wrong, as usual.

John Tierney, NYTimes: Let the Guys Win One (TimesSelect wall)

His thesis:

When Title IX was enacted in 1972, women were a minority on college campuses, and it sounded reasonable to fight any discrimination against them. But now men are the underachieving minority on campus, as a series by The Times has been documenting. So why is it so important to cling to the myth behind Title IX: that women need sports as much as men do?

Yes, some women are dedicated athletes, and they should be encouraged with every opportunity. But a lot of others have better things to do, like study or work on other extracurricular activities that will be more useful to their careers. For decades, athletic directors have been creating women’s sports teams and dangling scholarships and hoping to match the men’s numbers, but they’ve learned that not even the Department of Education can eradicate gender differences.

At the University of Maryland, the women’s lacrosse team won national championships year after year but still had a hard time getting 40 players to turn out for the team. The men’s team had no such trouble, because guys were more than willing to warm the bench even if they weren’t getting a scholarship, but the coach had to cut the extra ones to maintain the gender balance. The school satisfied Title IX, but to no one’s benefit.

On or off campus, men play more team sports and watch more team sports.

The facts:

The foundation of Title IX is not the 'myth' that women need sports as much as men do. Title IX is an amendment to a federal education bill; its central thesis is that women, who pay the same tuition and taxes as men, should receive the same opportunities to participate in sports programs. It only applies to institutions that choose to receive federal funds. Any private school that doesn't want to treat men and women equally in sports can do so: just forgo federal funds. It's called equality, John Tierney, as much as you disdain it. Or maybe you're just an originalist, believing "We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal..." really only applies to men.

The vast majority of colleges and universities are not in compliance with Title IX; they spend more money on their smaller percentage of male undergraduates than they do on their larger percentage of female undergraduates.

Title IX has never been enforced by the federal government. No university has ever lost federal funds for Title IX violations.

So what's the real problem here? Why are administrators creating teams that women aren't interested in? It's a two-fold problem, and it all comes back to football.

Football is the Achilles heel of college sports programs. It is the ultimate sacred cow. Colleges routinely carry football squads at the Division I-A limit of 85 players. (The maximum number of players who can actually suit up for a game is 40.) A large proportion of most college sports programs funding goes to football. So, colleges need to balance out football.

I am unaware of any school that actually spends its athletic funds equally on men and women. That would be the simple way to comply with Title IX. But that ain't gonna happen, not while the most athletic directors are male and most college leadership is male. So how else can a school comply? The government still relies on guidelines passed over 30 years ago to give colleges ways to comply with Title IX without actually providing equal money or opportunities. (Or as we say here in the reality-based community, ways to get around the law.) The so-called 'three-prong' test gives schools three ways to comply: (1) TRY; {a good-faith effort to accommodate women's interests), (2) SUCCESSFUL TRY (show that women's interests are completely accommodated, even if you're not equal), and (3) CLOSE ENOUGH FOR THE OFFICE OF CIVIL RIGHTS, (proportionality, that your playing opportunities for men and women are roughly proportional to their numbers in the student body).

Well, it's a little late for the first two prongs to be relevant (how can you show a history when you've been out of compliance for 30 years?) so most schools try to show proportionality.

So schools are trying to balance out those 85 football spots. There may be a million guys out there who want to wrestle, or play lacrosse, or cycle. But schools prefer to give men scholarships to back up the football bench rather than reduce football squads.

Therefore, schools need to create women's sports to make their numbers proportional. But because schools spend so much of their sports money on football, schools want to push cheap women's sports. That's why schools all over the country have cut their very popular women's gymnastics programs. Expensive, between the equipment and the insurance. Instead, they've added sports teams that are big and require little equipment. Wonder why crew and rowing are all over US college campuses? Colleges report squads of 70, 80, 90 female crew members. They count 'em the day they sign up, not after a month or two when most of the novices (there aren't many crew or rowing programs in high schools) drop out. There was no nationwide cry for rowing by female athletes. Lacrosse, also a big new women's sport, not because women are that interested in it, but because you can report a squad of 40 easily. Women who want to play sports that have smaller squads have been rebuffed. See Mansourian v. UC Davis, a female wrestler who was denied the opportunity to participate, as an example. Mansourian's male coach was fired from UC Davis for supporting her; his case has just been allowed to go to trial.

The real problem is the way college athletic programs have decided to allocate money and participation opportunities. Women's sports haven't caused smaller men's sports to lose spots. It's the insistence that football programs have 85 athletes, although many of those 'athletes' will never set foot on the field as college athletes.

Don't blame women for dumb allocation of athletic dollars. Blame the administrators. Blame football and its bloated squads. Don't blame women, John Tierney.


Mariah Burton Nelson deconstructed this same bogus argument four years ago: And Now They Tell Us Women Don’t Really Like Sports?

And no article on Title IX should ever be written without a big thank you Patsy Mink, foremother behind Title IX (along with Birch Bayh), who fought for equality. Great article by Mechelle Voepel.