Showdown Over "Global Gag Rule"

Congress is forcing a showdown with President Bush over the "global gag rule" barring U.S. aid to clinics providing abortions, abortion counseling, or advocacy. In November, the Senate voted to overturn the rule, while the House voted to weaken it by allowing the United States to provide condoms to groups that are otherwise ineligible for aid. Still unclear is whether Congress will act on a bill to restore subsidies for contraceptives distributed through clinics serving lower income women and college students.

Women's E-News reports

Many Blacks Worse Off Than Their Parents

Nearly half of African Americans born to middle-income parents in the late 1960s plunged into poverty or near-poverty as adults, according to a new study -- a perplexing finding that analysts say highlights the fragile nature of middle-class life for many African Americans.

The Washington Post reports

Benefits for Pets, Not for Partners

In August, the trustees of Palm Beach Community College narrowly voted against offering health insurance to domestic partners of staff. Only three months later, the college offered a new health benefit -- a 5 percent discount on health insurance for employees' pets.

Inside Higher Ed reports

Sweatshop Crucifixes Found in Church Gift Shops

The National Labor Committee heralded the Christmas season with a report showing that the crucifixes sold in St. Patrick's Cathedral and Trinity Church in New York are made in Chinese sweatshops -- even though a few are mislabeled "Made in Italy." Young women are forced to work 16-hour days, and even overnight, for less than China's minimum wage: they are paid "just 26½ cents an hour, less than half China’s legal minimum wage of 55 cents, which is itself set at be below subsistence levels." The churches removed the items after seeing the report.

The AFL-CIO Weblog reports

"North American Union" Conspiracy Theory Spreads

Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth spokesman Jerome Corsi are among a growing number who believe that elites are selling out Americans to merge Mexico, the United States, and Canada into a single political entity with the power to dissolve national laws. Such conspiracy theories usually reflect a sense of powerlessness, says the University of Florida's Mark Fenster. They are a form of political populism, with its suspicion of concentrations of control and its sense that ordinary people are being shut out of the decision-making process.

The Boston Globe's Drake Bennett reports