Not a lot of time to blog today. I'm giving a guest lecture on blogging at the New School today, and I need to practice my presentation. I promise I'll have a cornucopia of posts tomorrow on all sorts of interesting opportunity issues.
To tide you over, check out Ezra Klein's interesting analysis of the wage gender gap.
White high school graduates are more likely than black or Hispanic
peers to enroll in college. The report says 47.3% of white high school
graduates ages 18 to 24 attend college, vs. 41.1% of black and 35.2% of
Hispanic high school graduates.
Causes and solutions, you ask?
"While we see forward movement, it is incremental and not transformational."
That, she says, would require better preparation
and encouragement in elementary and high schools. "Students of color
often have limited access to the courses they need ... (and) college
guidance," Tatum says. And a key reason some minority college students
don't persist is because "they're simply running out of money."
The More for Maryland Campaign is facilitated by the Safe and Sound
Campaign. It is an effort to get the attention of our elected officials
that are running for office to pay attention to one simple truth; when
you have opportunity, life turns out better. It is very possible to use
our state budget and our local budget to fund opportunity for our
citizens. In so doing, people grow up safe and healthy and productive
citizens in our society, says Hathaway Ferebee, executive director of
Baltimore Safe and Sound Campaign.
It's an interesting program to raise awareness about a campaign to allocate tax dollars in a way that creates more opportunity for Maryland citizens - particularly in the context of foster care and drug treatment programs. We profiled an early version of this program in February.
I just finished reading Applebee's America. Written by conservative strategist Matthew Dowd, Democratic strategist Douglas Sosnik, and journalist Ron Fournier, the book examines how businesses and successful politicians (like Bush II and Clinton) connect with customers/constituents.
In brief, the book draws on anecdotes from Applebee's and Starbucks customers, as well as the authors' political expertise, to tell a tale about changing demographics and tastes in American culture and society. In the language of cutting-edge corporate-marketing, the book discusses framing techniques and community building strategies that can help businesses and political campaigns adjust to - and thrive in - that changing environment.
Applebee's America can be boiled down into three core ideas:
"Gut Values" connections, not policy proposals, are
what win voters;
People group by lifestyle affinities not ideology; and
Word of mouth from trusted, local sources trumps broadcast advertising.
In some ways, this is old-hat. Progressive strategists and the netroots have been talking about framing and community building for years now. So in that sense, the book offers not much new. If you feel like you need a primer or want to brush up on those topics, Applebee's America offers some good case studies. Including some great stories about Mega Churches.
What I found to be most interesting was a brief blurb - literally only 2 pages in a 200+ page book - about the Millenial generation (what the author's label Generation 9/11).
The authors also discuss a growing "Opportunity Gap" among the
millenial generation. They note that while women and people of color
are closing achievement gaps, millions are being
priced out of college and other life opportunities. The authors predict that this will become a defining policy issue for our generation:
The Opportunities Gap will be one of the defining issues
off Generation 9/11. The socially conscious high-opportunity Generation
9/11 members will make closing that gap a major political issue.
Remember, it was the Greatest Generation that inspired the GI Bill and
the growth of organized labor in the 195s, two reasons for the rise of
the middle class.
...
Churches and other nonprofits will find a great cause in
helping those trying to bidge the Opportunities Gap.
I think the authors have hit on something here. College tuition hikes outpaced inflation yet again in 2005, and as Anya Kamenetz and Tamara Drout have chronicled, young people are being saddled with unmanageable levels of debt as a price of entry into the middle class. It's stifling the life opportunities of thousands and pricing millions out of college all together. Their language
is also apt. Individual policy proposals aren't going to excite people - no
matter how much they care about the issue. Yet talking about an
Opportunity Gap, or the failure of government and society to protect
access to the American Dream can be the basis of a powerful message to
rally young people. Doing so will be critical to the advancement of progressive ideas.
Some of you out there might have heard about an effort by progressive bloggers to "Google Bomb" the election.
The practice has been around for quite a while - mostly for humorous or satirical purposes (just google the words "miserable failure" and you'll see what we mean). But - with an effort by the progressive blogosphere to Google Bomb 70 Republican candidates - it's lately gained traction as a genuine tool for advocates and activists alike.
The idea - partly inspired by the Drum Major Institutes's innovative use of Google Ad Words to "grade" congress and educate voters - is simple: If enough blogs link negative stories using the names of Republican candidates, their collective linking power will drive those articles up the Google search results. Undecided voters - the most likely to be randomly googling candidate names in the next two weeks - will click on those links, see the negative stories, and decide to vote democratic.
Andrea Batista Schlesinger of DMI asks the appropriate question - how can this tactic be used to change public policy?
The short answer is this: alter public opinion. For instance, right now, very few news stories ever report on human rights issues, and the American public is highly uneducated about human rights issues. What if we could Google Bomb a number of common terms that - even though they are not framed as such in the US media - are human rights issues at core? For instance, health care is a human right - recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - yet rarely is it reported that way. What if major public policy groups, in cooperation with the blogosphere, could use Google Bombs as a way to begin to alter that?
That's a big example, but what about somethign smaller? How about a Google Bomb on a specific campaign? The blogosphere has already accomplished this. In 2005, a campaign called "There Is No Crisis" played a large role in the social security debate. During the height of the campaign - which was largely supported by the blogosphere - Google searches for Social Security frequently yielded an anti-privatization website called "There is No Crisis."
There are lots of potential uses - and case studies - out there for those who are looking to google bomb public policy. The trick is to identify a specific campaign and then build concensus between the think tanks and the blogs. It's that partnership that will ensure the critical mass of links required for any such campaign to be successful.
For more about Google Bombs and Search Engine Optimization strategies, check out this white paper by the New Politics Institute.
In an article with stunningly bad framing, the AP manages to blame poor african americans for getting ripped off by the insurance companies. While the overall framing leaves much to be desired, the article does convey some important information, and a quote by our own Alan Jenkins, buried near the bottom, clearly states what should have been the story's principle message:
Alan Jenkins, a former Justice Department official in the Clinton
administration who lobbies for minority opportunities, said AP's
analysis reinforces a little-discussed reality exposed by Katrina.
"The
promise of opportunity isn't equally available," he said. "Race and
income has made a big difference in people's ability to start over."
Jenkins said state and federal agencies need to adopt different techniques to reach historically disadvantaged neighborhoods.
The Republic of T has about 5 great posts up analyzing the New Jersey decision on civil unions/gay marriage. BlackProf has some good stuff on this issue as well.
Finally, the Economic Policy Institute released a paper analyzing minimum wage research and trends. The findings include:
There is a growing view among economists that the
minimum wage offers substantial benefits to low-wage workers without
negative effect. Although there are still dissenters, the best recent
research has shown that the job loss reported in earlier analyses does
not, in fact, occur when the minimum wage is increased. There is little
question that the overall impact of a minimum wage is positive, as the
following facts make clear:
If the minimum wage were increased nationally to $7.25:
14.9 million workers would receive a raise,
80% of those affected are adults age 20 or over, and
7.3 million children would see their parents income rise.
Are you looking to do more than cast your ballot on election day?
Do you own a digital video camera?
If you answered yes to those three questions, then sign up with Video the Vote and help secure the voting rights of millions of Americans on election day.
Through the work of thousands of volunteers across the country, Video the Vote seeks to document - and where possible, minimize - voter disenfrachisement this November.
A new report (pdf) released by ElectionLine suggests that November 7th will be a chaotic election day, with buggy technology, new ID laws, and voter suppression tactics threatening yet again to undermine our voting process and deny thousands of Americans their voice in our democracy. From the report:
This was supposed to be the year — and the election — when the voting process nationwide was more secure, more technologically advanced and more trusted by the citizens and candidates participating.
Yet as the mid-term elections approach, machine failures,database delays and foul-ups, inconsistent procedures, new rules and new equipment have some predicting chaos at the polls at worst and widespread polling place snafus at best. The changes to the American electoral system have been widespread. New machines for voters with disabilities have been implemented in polling places nationwide, while statewide voter registration databases are up and running in most states.
But critical differences still exist across state borders and new controversies emerged in 2006. Strict new voter ID rules have been the cause of continual legal challenges in some states, while lawsuits in other states have challenged the use of electronic voting systems. Limits on voter registration drives enacted in two key battleground states have been struck down by federal judges. While the use of paper backups to electronic voting has become more widespread, the rules for their use in recounting or auditing totals after an election vary.
The Nov. 7 election promises to bring more of what voters have come to expect since the 2000 election — a divided body politic, an election system in flux and the possibility — if not certainty — of problems at polls nationwide.
The report identifies which states are at highest risk for voting irregularities - Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Maryland, New York, Ohio,Pennsylvania, and Washington - and outlines what problems we might expect to see in each state.
There's lots to do this election cycle - GOTV, Carpooling voters to the polls, phone banking, etc. If you are concerned about voter disenfrachisement, and want to help protect people's right to participate equally in our democracy, consider Video the Vote as another option for election day activism.
Our Executive Director, Alan Jenkins, just posted the first of what will be many columns on TomPaine.com His first column addresses school desegregation cases currently pending before the Supreme Court.
I encountered a slew of great human rights multimedia online today.
In the realm of video, Global Voices and Witness have partnered to create the Human Rights Video Hub, an educational archive meant to raise awareness, education and direct people to take action on human rights issues. You can read more about it here. Global voices has taken some submissions and created a video blog to help advertise the project. Here's a taste of the types of video currently available:
The first video shows interviews with protestors in Zimbabwe who were abused by police during a peaceful demonstration. The demonstrators were calling for "antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for the treatment of HIV, a minimum wage,
and stabilisation in the prices of basic commodities."
The second video documents police in China also breaking up a peaceful demonstration with violence. The video was taken on a cellphone and appeared on Chinese video sharing sites. After it was censored from those sites, the video made its way to YouTube.
The videos on Human Rights Video Hub all deal with human rights violations abroad, but what about Human Rights here at home? Glad you asked.
A vast majority of Americans are unaware of the
Universal Declaration - even though they support many of the rights that it
codifies. We went around New York City asking folks what human rights meant to them. Click on the video to watch a sampling of rhe responses we received.
If you are unfamiliar with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, or looking educate people about human rights, check out these audio recordings of the Declaration in 21 different languages.
An interesting, if somewhat mixed article about preventive health care in today's New York Times. Some hospitals are attempting a new strategy that embraces free, preventive health care for people with chronic illnesses in an attempt to keep down longterm costs associated with repeated emergency room visits (emphasis mine):
With the number of
uninsured people in the United States reaching a record 46.6 million
last year, up by 7 million from 2000, Seton is one of a small number of
hospital systems around the country to have done the math and acted on
it. Officials decided that for many patients with chronic diseases, it
would be cheaper to provide free preventive care than to absorb the
high cost of repeated emergencies.
The idea seems like a sound strategy, and with high success rates among patients with ambulatory care sensitive conditions like asthma and diabetes, it seems like it could be a net positive for combating racial and ethnic disparities in health care (ACS conditions disproportionately affect low income communities and people of color).
With reduced health care costs for tax payers and the hospitals, and greater adherence to the idea of healthcare as a human right, one would think that this is a win-win strategy for administrators and advocates alike. The article goes on to note, however, that these trials are exceptions in the health care industry, not the rule.
In a heartbreaking anecdote, the story illustrates just how broken our health care system is, and how vulnerable many low income people and people of color are when it comes to receiving adequate - and vital - health care:
In March 2005, Ms. Martinez, a Seton patient, was found to have liver cancer. She was put on Medicaid, applied for federal disability and was put in line for a liver transplant,
without which, doctors said, she had six months to two years to live.
Through the summer of 2005, she made the hour-and-a-half drive from her
home to San Antonio for preparatory tests.
That August, she was
awarded disability payments of $561 a month. But because her income
surpassed the $535 limit for Medicaid in her circumstances, she said,
she was told by the state that her coverage had ended, and the hospital
said it could not proceed with a transplant.
“I asked Social
Security if they couldn’t just reduce my payments by $30 a month,” she
said, “but they said it doesn’t work that way.”
In another
twist, by federal rules, she will qualify for Medicare two years after
the initial finding of disability. She awaits the start of Medicare
coverage next March, when she can rejoin the transplant line.
