A Human Rights Watch said in a report that women in Afghanistan are among the worst off in the world, violence against them is "endemic", and the Afghan government fails to protect them against crimes like rape and murder. The report said that conditions for women are "dismal in every area" of Afghanistan. The report is based on 120 interviews from different Afghan provinces.
The report said, "Whereas the trend had clearly been positive for women's rights from 2001-2005, the trend now is negative in many areas... it is a reflection of the power of conservative leaders who want to deny women their basic rights." The author of the report said that one hindrance towards women's rights in Afghanistan is that President Karzai's has increasingly relied on support from former warlords, who are often very conservative and are fundamentalists (their views are often not that different from the Taliban). This has increasingly restricted women from making progress in Afghan society and government. When Karzai was first election president in 2004, he appointed three women ministers. Today, there is only one woman in the cabinet (and she is the minister for women's affairs).
The report gave examples of the injustices against women that have been happening in Afghanistan, including rapists that have been pardoned by the government, females being imprisoned for running away from home, rape victims being charged with adultery, and attacks on women in public life seem to be increasing. Another indicator that women's rights are declining is the introduction of the Shi'ite Personal Status Law. It caused an international outcry because some of its articles were seen as legalizing marital rape. (Full Story)
U.S. Census data has found that nearly one in six Americans workers are foreign born. This is the highest proportion since the 1920s.
The Census Bureau also looked at immigrant families by generation. Overall, income and other measures of achievement increased from one generation to the next. Among all immigrant families, the median income increased from $50,867 in the first generation (those that just came to the United States), to $63,359 in the second generation (the children of those that first came to the U.S.; the second generation was born in the U.S.), to $65,144 in the third generation. The only group to have a decrease in median income was families headed by single mothers -- in which case, their income declined from the second generation to the third. Furthermore, the overall proportion of immigrant families living below the official poverty line declined over the generations -- from 16.5% to 14.5% to 11.5%.
With education, the proportion of high school graduates increased from one generation to the next. However, the proportion of those with Bachelor's degrees or higher declined from the second generation to the third. And the first generation has a higher proportion with doctorates (in fact, while immigrants make up 16% of the total labor force, they make up up 28% of workers with doctoral degrees. Most of the immigrants with doctoral degrees as from Asia and Europe).
A sociology professor at the University of Toronto explained why the second generation tends to do better than the first generation, she said the second generation personifies "the overachievement model, a tendency for very high achievement that seems to come as a result of immigrant parents instilling in these kids an enormous drive. Many try to instill in their kids the phrase, 'We did this all for you.'" Another sociology professor at the City University of New York reported that any decline in the third generation could be a result of "second-generation parents, themselves born in the U.S., are less optimistic and push their children less hard than their own immigrant parents who came here and struggled so their children could succeed."
Also interesting from the report, they found that noncitizens were most likely to work in agriculture, construction, and the hotel and food service industries. Citizens born abroad were most prevalent in real estate, health care, and transportation. Immigrants from Asia, Europe, and Africa were most likely to be employed in management and professional occupations. Mexican immigrants are most likely to be employed in construction and farming. (Full Story)
Scientific research indicates as many as 19 million Americans may become ill each year due to parasites, bacteria, and viruses in drinking water. Research also indicates that certain types of cancer -- such as breast and prostate cancer -- have risen over the past 30 years and is likely tied to pollutants found in drinking water.
Regulators were informed about each violation as they occurred, but regulatory records show that only 6% of the water treatment systems were fined or punished by the state or federal officials (including the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the ultimate responsibility for enforcing standards). In some instances, the violations were one-time events and probably posed little risk. But for hundreds of systems, contamination persisted for years. The EPA said in a statement that with a majority of these violations, state regulators used informal methods, like providing technical assistance, to help the systems. However, EPA data shows that many systems remained noncompliant, even after aid was offered.
A spokeswoman for the EPA stated, "This administration has made it clear that clean water is a top priority. The previous eight years provide a perfect example of what happens when political leadership fails to act to protect our health and the environment." That requires an "Oh snap!", as well as an "And how!" (Full Story)
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