Author: jplucas

Quoted: “I think it’s not dissimilar from what we had in 2003 with the anti-war protests, where a lot of people were uncomfortable with the war, but also uncomfortable with the anti-war position, recognizing there are terrorists out there,” says Jeremi Suri, a history professor who specializes in social movements at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. “Here we have a similar thing: There are serious economic issues, and it’s unclear to many people whether the stimulus is going to deal with these.”

Quoted: “School districts or schools that are smaller or less diverse have fewer targets to hit,” said Adam Gamoran, interim dean of education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Q: Countries such as France and Japan have been recycling nuclear fuel for decades. Why doesnâ??t the United States do the same?

A: The United States actually was poised to start a nuclear fuel-reprocessing program in the mid-1970s, said Paul Wilson, UW-Madison associate professor of engineering physics. But due to concerns about nuclear weapons proliferation, President Jimmy Carter turned the country away from that option in 1978.

Quoted: “The old elite and bureaucratic elite are afraid of losing power,” said Thongchai Winichakul, professor of Southeast Asian history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who added that Mr. Abhisit will soon have to choose between becoming an authoritarian leader or calling elections that Mr. Thaksin’s supporters are likely to win. “Rural and poor people found that democracy, elections, were good for them, after decades of bureaucratic and aristocratic rule and after years of elections that neglected them. Thai democracy, since 1997 at least, began to work well for the poor at the expense of the elite.

Quoted: Mark Bugher, director of the University Research Park, agrees things have improved. He credits the business community itself with being more of a force.

“There’s a heightened level of activism and interest that’s drawn the attention of policy makers,” says Bugher, who two years ago resigned in protest as chair of the city’s Economic Development Commission. “In the past, there’s always been this lack of recognition that businesses â?? and small businesses in particular â?? have been important to the community development programs.”

Noted: Also in “Here, Kitty Kitty” are Stan Temple, the UW-Madison professor whose study blaming cats for the deaths of millions of birds was often cited by those who believed the cats were pests, and Gordon King, a retired farmer and self-proclaimed environmentalist who was prosecuted for trapping and drowning cats on his property in Merrill.

Quoted: By 8 years old, children know the difference between fantasy and reality, so they are more likely to be frightened by televised news coverage of events such as kidnappings, murders and terrorism, said Joanne Cantor, professor of at University of Wisconsin-Madison, who was not involved with the study. Before age 8, they express fears of fictional scenarios and characters but also worry about hurricanes and drowning, she said.

Quoted: So far, “we havenâ??t found any evidence there is a major crisis right now,” said Ken Mayer, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who chairs the cityâ??s commission on clean elections. “But weâ??re trying to peer into the future.”

Quoted: “It really does depend. I can’t say that they’re always a bad deal or always a good deal. But I think there are some things to be careful of if you’re thinking about an extended warranty,” says University of Wisconsin financial specialist Michael Collins.

A new national study on trends in drug convictions finds a surprising trend: the number of African-American drug offenders is falling while the number of white offenders is rising.

The study by the Sentencing Project found that between 1999 and 2005, the number of black drug convicts in the country fell by over 30,000 while the number of white drug convicts increased by more than 20,000. In Wisconsin, the trend is still weak. UW-Madison sociology professor Pamela Oliver says there are still disproportionately more black drug convicts but the racial disparity isn’t as pronounced as it was at the height of the drug war in the mid-990’s. (Fifth item.)

Over the past several decades, women politicians have made strides in Africa. The share of parliamentary seats held by women increased from 7 percent in 1990 to 17 percent in 2007.

Interviewed: Aili Mari Tripp is a professor of political science and womenâ??s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the director of the Womenâ??s Studies Research Center. (Audio.)