Donna Brazile invited to speak at Department of Justice for Women’s History Month

Open Forum.  We invite your comments.

Donna Brazile will be making remarks at a Women’s History Month event at the Department of Justice on March 31.  She was invited by Attorney General Eric Holder.  A flyer sent to employees of the DOJ said that “Supervisors are encouraged to grant official time to employees to attend the event.”

Ms. Brazile made the following statement:

During my remarks, I will pay tribute to women who dare, women of courage and the many milestones we have achieved and the path ahead,” Brazile said in an e-mail. “I am going in my capacity as an Adjunct Professor in the Women and Gender Studies at Georgetown University — not as a CNN contributor, ABC news consultant or Vice Chair of the DNC [Democratic National Committee]. Perhaps, I am going as a woman of valor — a woman of courage to pay tribute to women who work at the DOJ and elsewhere.

We ask our TNA readers and members to contribute their thoughts on Brazile’s appearance at the Department of Justice.

La Nueva Agenda le da la bienvenida

Les presentamos nuestro volante en español de la Nueva Agenda, recién revisado, que se encuentra bajo Grassroots para copiar y distribuir.

Click to download and print

Hay una gran población latina/hispánica en los E.E.U.U. (Sí, se usan ambos términos, y aún otras autorreferencias, según la localidad.) La lengua española tiene muchos dialectos, y están representados casi todos en los E.E.U.U. Los dialectos más representados por número de hablantes son el mexicano, el puertorriqueño, y el cubano.

Consulté con informantes y otros recursos respecto a qué términos usar. Algunos términos ingleses tienen varias posibilidades al traducirlos: “Fair pay” es difícil, porque hay 4 palabras diferentes que se pueden usar (pago, paga, salario, sueldo). “Small women-owned businesses” es una frase o construcción de la lengua inglesa. (No son las mujeres que sean pequeñas!) Hay varias palabras para traducir business. Imagínese si el volante se hubiera escrito en un inglés británico, sonaría algo extraño al oído americano. Es algo semejante para los hispanohablantes con un dialecto vs. otro. Por eso, he tratado de usar un español “general.”

Algunos han expresado que la Nueva Agenda debe hacer un blog en español. Esto sí es una buena idea para el futuro. La mayor parte de los hispanohablantes en los E.E.U.U. pueden comunicar, leer, y conversar en inglés. Entre los bilingües el cambio de código es común, y se usa el español para la comunicación en casa o con otros hispanohablantes, y también para señalar la solidaridad (comunicación dentro del grupo).

Por el momento, le damos la bienvenida con mucha sinceridad. Con el volante, como con Mary Poppins, vamos a tratar de ser “prácticamente perfectos” en el futuro.

Por favor, únase a nosotros. Distribuya el volante a sus vecinos, negocios locales, y grupos sociales. Hágase voluntaria. Gracias.

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The New Agenda Welcomes You

We present our revised Spanish New Agenda flyer, found under Grassroots, to copy and distribute.

This carries on where Jennifer Lee started in “Grassroots in action!” She keeps flyers in her car and hands them out at businesses she frequents. She has noted that Spanish speakers are pleased that we are making an effort to reach out in Spanish, and I have heard the same here in New Mexico.

There’s a big Latino/Hispanic population in the U.S. (Yes, both of these terms and others are used as self-reference, depending on the locale.) Spanish has many dialects, and most all are represented in the U.S. The largest groups represented speak varieties of Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Cuban Spanish.

I consulted with informants and other sources for terms. Some in English present more choices in Spanish: “Fair pay” is difficult, as Spanish has 4 possible words for “pay” that can be used (pago, paga, salario sueldo). “Small women-owned businesses” is an English coinage. (It’s not ‘small women’ who own businesses!) There are several different words for ‘business.’ Imagine if the flyer had a British- English feel to it–it would sound “off” to most American English speakers. Similar issues hold for Spanish speakers. I’ve tried to use “general” or “pan” Spanish, insofar as possible.

Some have expressed that The New Agenda should have a Spanish-language version of the blog. That indeed is a good idea for the future. Most Spanish speakers in the U.S. can communicate, read, and converse in English. Among bilinguals, code switching is common, and Spanish is used for communication in the home or with other Spanish speakers, and also to signal solidarity (in-group communication).

For now, we give a heartfelt welcome. With the flyer, as with Mary Poppins, we’ll try to be “practically perfect” in the future.

Please join us. Distribute the flyer to your neighbors, local businesses, and social groups. Become a volunteer. Thank you.

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Reconocimientos: Muchas gracias a Lupe, María Elena, Nitzka en P.R., y R. en el Rancho por ayudarme. Thanks all of you for your help.

As of January 1, 2009, prostitution by women is no longer a criminal offense in Norway.  Sweden introduced a similar ban in 1999.  Norway follows Sweden with fines up to $5000 (USD)

Here’s the kicker:  Purchase of sex by males is a criminal offense. So while it is now legal for women to sell their bodies–and they won’t be arrested–male customers will be arrested, if caught.

They expect there will be no prostitutes on the streets of Oslo beginning the new year–most of whom are Eastern European.

Even more interesting, if Norwegian males purchase sex and are caught any place in the world, they will also be punished when they get back home to Norway.  That puts a crimp in that trip to Thailand. 

Reuters reported the following April 18, 2008 when the law was being considered:

“People are not merchandise, and criminalising the purchase of sexual services will make it less attractive for human traffickers to look to Norway,” Justice Minister Knut Storberget said in a statement.

Prostitution is allowed in Norway although procuring, or “pimping,” is illegal. A rise in street prostitution in the capital, Oslo, in recent years has triggered calls for a ban.

Proponents of the measure say it makes sense to try to stop prostitution by punishing those who use the service rather than the women themselves, who are often poor, young immigrants.

“The goal is that the ban should contribute to … reducing demand and thereby give a lesser market for human trafficking,” Storberget said.

Opponents of the ban say it will jeopardise women in the trade by driving prostitution underground where they will be even more vulnerable.

“Criminalisation shall not lead to a worse situation for the prostitutes,” Storberget said, adding that the government had taken other steps to get prostitutes out of the business.

The justice ministry said the punishment could be fines on rising scale according to the offender’s financial means or a jail term of up to six months, or both. [boldface mine]

Jail sentences of a year could be imposed in aggravated cases involving adult prostitution and of up to three years where child prostitutes are involved, the ministry said.

You can link to the text of the law with an English translation along side the Norwegian.  (The source for this interesting info today was in Aftenposten a Norwegian newspaper, Dec. 29, 2008,  Thanks to RBK.)

Vice President-elect Biden’s Senate seat will now be filled by Edward Kaufman, a family retainer whom no one ever heard of before yesterday. And no one will hear from after two years, at which time Kaufman will dutifully retire. He understands his responsibility: Keep the Delaware Senate seat warm for two years until Joe’s son returns from Iraq to assume his father’s mantle.

It seems that not only Obama’s senate seat is up for, er, appointment (as well as Clinton’s in NY), but that Biden’s has been quietly, um, appointed. Most of us are well aware of the appointment drama in Illinois, and the discussions surrounding the NY state appointment. However, most of us are not aware that a family retainer of the Biden’s is keeping the seat toasty for the the future-hopeful Biden son. We seem to be building family dynasties in this country, as well as political machine dynasties.

It’s not the House of Lords that I used to know, and it still has very few Ladies.

/ AROUND TOWN

Deal of the Day: Hillary Clinton Nutcracker

Commemorate our departing Senator — and crack your holiday nuts — with this handy gem

By Elizabeth Bougerol

The Hillary Clinton nutcracker makes the perfect gift.

Chin up, New York! We may be losing one of the most high-profile senators we’ve ever had to the transition team, but we can still have Hillary Clinton around this holiday season (and beyond) thanks to this fun little bauble. The Hillary Clinton nutcracker ($27.99) comes dressed in a snazzy — dare we say presidential – pantsuit, and boasts “stainless steel thighs” guaranteed to “crack toughest nuts.” Also great on lobster and crab claws!

The Senator is available at Overstock.com for $27.99 plus shipping. You can order the item as a set with the Bill Clinton corkscrew for $49.99, but somehow, that’s just less fun.

Here is the way I collected the data: I recorded Hardball and only watched the commercials at the 5:00 show in my time zone for Nov. 19-21– 3 days worth. Note that Hardball is also shown at 3:00 and 10:00 p.m. I briefly watched one 10:00 show, and the commercials are different at the time slot.

It takes ½ hour to note the sponsors, with additional write-up time. These all appear to be national sponsors. My media market is #44 on the Nielsen list of markets, about in the middle. It remains to be seen whether large markets like NYC, Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, and L.A. have the same national sponsors in their 5:00 time slots.

There are 28-32 commercials every hour. Here they are aggregated, alphabetized with annotations, web addresses or phones, if they appeared on the screen. One knows which products to buy or avoid, if so desired, or what advertiser to write.

LIST ALPHABETIZED — 3 days worth + annotations, and number of times (e.g. “2x”) the product was shown over the 3 days of that show.

American Chemistry
ATT Blackberry
ATT (phone service)
AXA Equitable, Variable Annuity
Bank of America, (2x)
Bounce Awakening dryer sheets (Bounceeverywhere.com)
Braun Series 7 razor (2x)
Brita
Caltrate, caltrate.com
Campbell’s soup (4x)
Charmin Ultra Soft (charmin.com)
Ciales, Lilly, (3x)
Circuit city (4x), inc. twice for Samsung TVs
Citi (citi.com)
Comcast (comcast.com) cross advertised with NFL Network on Demand
Comcast theSlowskys.com
Conoco Phillips,On burning natural gas
Dawn Hand Renewal
Dell (Dell.com) (3x)
Ditech home financing (Ditech.com)—3x
Everest (everest411.com, career services 1-800-833-9413)
Financial Heritage (Pat Boone, spokesperson)
Flomax Urinary symptoms, prostate issues
George Forman Grill (Georgeforeman.com)
GMAC Bank (.com) 2x, home financing
GoldPaq(.com) for selling your jewelry
Hall’s Breath mints
Hovefrhound Power chairs (1-800-441-=3222)
Hummer
Hyundai (sales event for the Santa Fe car)
I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter (2x)
Inventhelp ( 1-800-260-8477)
Iron Gym Buyinrongym.com (2x)
Joseph A. Banks (josbanks.com( (2x)
Liberty Mutual Insurance (4x)
Morgan Stanley (2x)
National Car Rental John MacEnroe (nationalcar.com) (3x)
Nikon D90 ashtonsd90.com (2x)
Perfectpushup.com (get ripped)
Public Service sex crimes on minors
Public Service (greenisuniversal.com)
PUR (purwater.com)
Rayovac batteries (Rayovac.com)
Robitussin DM Max
Salvation Army (2x)
Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio Terlato Wines
Servpro (1-800servpro)
Shell (.com) (2x)
Sopranos DVD TVMA/HBO 86 episodes (4x)
Sudafed O.M.
Thermacare Heat Wraps (thermacare.com)
Tide (How nice they are for loadsofhope.com, hurricane help)
TimeLife Radio City Xmas Spectacular (1-800-327-4101)
Travelocity and Master card and Barbados
V8 Fusion juice Brand Power
Vehix (Vehix.com)
Viagra Pfizer=company
Vicks Formula 44 (Vicks.com)
Walgreen’s (for senior plans)
Walt Disney: Advertising “Bolt” the movie
World Mastercard