Articles & Op-Eds
Barbara Lee bill would push states to roll back criminal HIV laws
May 08, 2013California and other states would be pressured to amend or repeal criminal laws that single out HIV-positive people under a bipartisan bill co-authored and introduced this week by Rep. Barbara Lee. Lee, D-Oakland, said 32 states and two U.S. territories have laws that criminalize exposing another person to HIV even if the virus isn't actually transmitted. And 36 states have reported at least 350 cases in recent years in which HIV-positive people have been arrested or prosecuted for consensu… Continue Reading
Bill to repeal laws that criminalize HIV exposure introduced in U.S. House
May 07, 2013A California congresswoman on Tuesday reintroduced the REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act in the U.S. House, a bill that would would lead to an eventual repeal of laws that criminalize exposing others to HIV. Currently, 32 states and two U.S. territories that have laws that make "exposure" to or nondisclosure of HIV a crime. U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), who first introduced the measure in 2011, said those laws "are based on bias, not science." "We need to make sure that our federal and state … Continue Reading
Barbara Lee and Dick Durbin's 'Nobody-Could-Have-Known' Defense
May 06, 2013Various senators are reportedly considering changes to the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) in light of how far beyond its scope US military action is now routinely deployed. That may seem like a welcome development, but as Marcy Wheeler notes, the officials involved and the "experts" on whom they're relying strongly suggest that any changes would entail expanding and broadening this authorization, not narrowing or rescinding it. One of the Senators who is pushing fo… Continue Reading
Barbara Lee, Hero
May 06, 2013Glenn Greenwald has an astute piece today on the 2001 authorization to use force that Congress passed in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. As he notes, the AUMF is currently being revisited, but largely for the purposes of expanding the executive's authority to wage war. Greenwald goes on to recount the, well, "criticism" would be putting it mildly, that Rep. Barbara Lee received as the lone vote against the AUMF in 2001. To say that Lee was vilified for her warnings is a serious… Continue Reading
Barbara Lee, Hero
May 06, 2013Glenn Greenwald has an astute piece today on the 2001 authorization to use force that Congress passed in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. As he notes, the AUMF is currently being revisited, but largely for the purposes of expanding the executive's authority to wage war. Greenwald goes on to recount the, well, "criticism" would be putting it mildly, that Rep. Barbara Lee received as the lone vote against the AUMF in 2001. To say that Lee was vilified for her warnings is a serious… Continue Reading
Barbara Lee: Climate Change Could Lead to Prostitution
May 02, 2013House Concurrent Resolution 36 is Representative Barbara Lee’s (D-Oakland) second attempt to convince Congress to take gender into account when dealing with the effects of climate change. The crux of her argument can be summed up in an excerpt from the resolution: “… women will disproportionately face harmful impacts from climate change, particularly in poor and developing nations where women regularly assume increased responsibility for growing the family’s food and collecting water, fuel, a… Continue Reading
Crowds Fill Old Berkeley City Hall to Honor Maudelle Shirek
May 02, 2013National and local political figures, along with city staff, family members and other loved ones, came together Tuesday night in Berkeley to celebrate the life of former Councilwoman Maudelle Shirek who died April 11 at the age of 101. The memorial event took place in the building re-named in 2005 to honor Shirek — a Berkeley councilwoman for 20 years — known widely as the “godmother of progressive politics” due to her work in the peace movement, and in the fight for social justice, nutrition… Continue Reading
Climate Change-Driven Prostitution Claim in House Resolution Makes for Misleading Headlines
May 01, 2013The Internets were abuzz this week with tales of how Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), that notorious Berkeley liberal, introduced a resolution claiming that climate change forces women to be prostitutes. Another development in the Democrats' elaborate climate change hoax! Conservatives were righteously outraged. Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller led with the headline, "Democrats: Global warming means more hookers." Michelle Malkin's Twitchy settled on, "We're screwed: Cong. Dems fear that climate cha… Continue Reading
My Barbara Lee mistake
April 30, 2013I've been so dispirited by the way Democrats caved on the FAA "fix" to the sequester bill that I got a fact wrong on C-SPAN's Washington Journal Wednesday morning. Talking about how President Obama's advisers dismissed the notion of a veto because the bill passed both the House and Senate with veto-proof majorities, I listed some progressives who voted for the bill, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Maxine Waters. I also included Rep. Barbara Lee, which was really surprising… Continue Reading
On Our Watch
April 30, 2013As we gather to mark April as Genocide Awareness month, to recognize atrocities across the world and throughout history, it's important not just to recognize the past, but to learn from it. Ten years ago this month, the international community joined together to bring the world's attention to brutal attacks that led to the deaths of 300,000 men, women, and children, and the displacement of a further 4 million. These attacks were perpetrated by the regime headed by Sudanese President Oma… Continue Reading
Climate change causes prostitution? Rep. Barbara Lee explains
April 29, 2013Climate change is causing glaciers to melt, heat waves to become more intense, species to become extinct and low-lying island nations like Tuvalu to disappear altogether. To this list of calamities, U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee has added another: Climate change could force more women to become prostitutes. That warning is contained in a resolution the California Democrat introduced in Congress on Friday. In House Concurrent Resolution 36, Rep. Lee and 11 co-sponsors note that warming temperatures co… Continue Reading
House Dems Push Resolution Warning Climate Change Leads Women To Pursue 'Transactional Sex'
April 29, 2013A number of House Democrats are pushing their colleagues to support a resolution acknowledging that unchecked climate change impacts women more than it does men, and can force impoverished women around the globe to engage in prostitution in order to survive. “[F]ood-insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health,” the … Continue Reading
Dem resolution warns climate change could push women to ‘transactional sex’
April 28, 2013Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to recognize that climate change is hurting women more than men, and could even drive poor women to "transactional sex" for survival. The resolution, from Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and a dozen other Democrats, says the results of climate change include drought and reduced agricultural output. It says these changes can be particularly harmful for women. "[F]ood insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulne… Continue Reading
Oakland: Dr. Helene Gayle, Rep. Barbara Lee discuss health care
April 24, 2013Poverty is the main obstacle to improved global health, Dr. Helene Gayle, CEO and president of CARE USA, said Saturday during the Barbara Lee & Elihu Harris Lecture Series at Parks Chapel AME Church. Gayle sat down with Lee, a Democratic congresswoman from Oakland, to discuss "The State of Health in America," but the bulk of their conversation called for local "street heat" to light the path to better access, delivery and understanding of health care. Gayle arrived with… Continue Reading
Rep. Barbara Lee: Repeal AUMF to stop ‘this state of perpetual war’
April 23, 2013Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) on Wednesday called for the Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) to be repealed. "I'm convinced that if we do not repeal this authorization to use force that I voted against in 2001, we are going to see this state of perpetual war forever," she told Current TV's John Fugelsang. Congress approved the AUMF just days after the September 11 terrorist attacks, giving the President authority to wage war "against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines… Continue Reading
Time to Renounce the “War on Terror”
April 23, 2013As a perpetual emotion machine -- producing and guzzling its own political fuel -- the "war on terror" continues to normalize itself as a thoroughly American way of life and death. Ongoing warfare has become a matter of default routine, pushed along by mainline media and the leadership of both parties in Washington. Without a clear and effective upsurge of opposition from the grassroots, Americans can expect to remain citizens of a war-driven country for the rest of their lives. Across the Unit… Continue Reading
Global Heroes Honored in L.A.
April 21, 2013An Afghan rapper. The founder of the first primary school for girls in a Kenyan village. A trailblazing member of Congress who fights to create an AIDS-free generation. An advocate for women's and children's rights and empowerment. Tonight in Los Angeles, the Feminist Majority Foundation (publisher of Ms.) will award these four women with its 8th annual Global Women's Rights Awards, celebrating their hard-fought accomplishments for girls and women on the world stage. The rapper-considered to b… Continue Reading
Anti-Prostitution Pledge Heads to Supreme Court
April 19, 2013On Monday, the Supreme Court hears oral arguments in a case that will decide if recipients of government aid can be forced to oppose prostitution—or potentially any other issue as a contingency of receiving US funds. The case, Alliance for Open Society International v. United States Agency for International Development, arises from a controversial policy governing AIDS education, prevention and treatment, a decade-long fight that's crossed political lines and was kicked off by Representative Chr… Continue Reading
Veterans' Claims for Benefits Delayed By Crushing VA Backlog
April 16, 2013William Kasten's disability claim has languished at the Department of Veterans Affairs' Oakland Regional Office for more than 700 days. But the Livermore man is more concerned with another number: $140. That is the sum of his family's savings. Kasten suffers debilitating back pain and depression stemming from his Coast Guard service and can no longer work. He has lost two homes to foreclosure and had a car repossessed -- all while waiting for help from a VA bureaucracy drowning in red tape. … Continue Reading
Fourth Graders Rally to Bring Rodrigo Guzman Home
April 16, 2013As politicians await the release of an immigration reform bill in the U.S. Senate this week, Berkeley fourth-grader Rodrigo Guzman sits in his grandmother’s house in Mexico waiting to be told he can return to the United States. When Rodrigo and his parents were told they would not be allowed to return to the United States after a winter break visit to Mexico because they had failed to renew their visas, his classmates in Berkeley launched a campaign and circulated a petition to bring him home… Continue Reading