(Craig Crawford, The Orlando Sentinel, 7/19/1987) — One day in the spring of 1980, Diane Joyce took a break from her northern California job shoveling asphalt, put a dime into a phone outside a convenience store and helped expand the rights of America’s working women.
The call was to the affirmative action coordinator of Joyce’s employer, the Santa Clara County Transportation Agency. Joyce complained that because of her sex, the agency had refused to promote her from road maintenance worker to radio dispatcher.
Diane Joyce
Joyce is a widowed grandmother who wears jeans to work and curses freely. A supervisor once wrote in an evaluation that she “doesn’t act like a lady.” Years ago she grew tired of conforming to expectations.
“I challenged what I was told about who I was supposed to be,” said the thin, chain-smoking Chicago native. “But you know the attitude: A woman with an opinion is ‘argumentative.’”
Recognizing that it had fewer female workers than did the area’s private employers, the county relented and promoted Joyce. But Paul Johnson, the man in line for the job, sued the county, claiming reverse discrimination.
A federal judge voided Joyce’s promotion, saying the county had violated laws against discrimination by considering her sex in the decision. So Joyce, who was not a party in the lawsuit, was forced to return to the road crew.
Then, in 1985, a federal appeals court in San Francisco decided Joyce’s promotion was fair because the agency was trying to remedy an imbalance in its work force. Of the 238 employees in the job grade that included radio dispatchers, none were women at the time of Joyce’s promotion.
After the appeals decision, Joyce regained her dispatcher’s job. Johnson took his case to the U.S. Supreme Court, where it became the climax of a long struggle among the justices over whether affirmative action amounted to unconstitutional discrimination in reverse.
In March the justices agreed with the appeals court and upheld Joyce’s promotion. It was the first Supreme Court endorsement of affirmative action for women and the first ruling to give minority and female workers special treatment on the basis of statistical evidence of hiring imbalances rather than proven discrimination.
The decision, along with an earlier 1987 case in which the justices allowed strict quotas, has given companies their first clear signal to move ahead with affirmative action.
Joyce, who once refused to join the National Organization for Women because “they’re too hard on housewives,” became a model for feminists. Her picture was on the front page of The New York Times. She appeared on Donahue and was interviewed by reporters from as far away as Italy and Japan.
On the job last month in the tiny green building where she keeps track of the county’s maintenance crews, Joyce berated a driver over the radio.
“Knock off the coffee and get on time,” she told him. Then, off the radio, she added, “That should embarrass him.”
Joyce relishes her work, which, in addition to keeping track of the drivers, includes organizing time sheets and completing maintenance reports. She scoffs at the notion that some jobs and lifestyles are for men only, an attitude that haunted her during Supreme Court arguments about her promotion.
She recalled that Justice Antonin Scalia argued that no woman had filled the job of dispatcher because none had wanted it — and that he later wrote a bitter dissent to the majority opinion. “Well, I’d like to meet him in a boxing ring with a pair of gloves,” Joyce said. “You’d see a 100-pound woman who could lift a ton.”
Joyce is used to resisting what she considers prejudiced men. Her high school guidance counselor in Chicago wouldn’t let her take a shop class because “nice girls don’t.”
At the University of Illinois, her faculty adviser discouraged her from majoring in architecture and pressured her to study liberal arts. “After several weeks of dance and other junk, I dropped out.”
For a while Joyce thought about joining the Army, but friends told her that “only women who were lesbians went into service. I figured it would be a good way to meet men.”
Later, she often fought her husband over her “masculine” habits, which included getting a full-time job. When he died of cancer in 1969, she moved to California with her four children and started working for the transportation agency.
“There was no women’s liberation then, and no assertiveness classes,” Joyce said. “It was just me against all the brainwashing. Even today, a lot of women are brainwashed into thinking they can’t do some things.”
The Supreme Court victory “restored most of my faith in what they taught us about equality in civics class,” Joyce said. “One of my duties at work was to raise the flag each morning. For a while I cursed the thing all the way up the pole. Now I feel proud of it again.”
[Update: Diane died in 2011. Over the years we stayed in contact, sporadically. I'll never forget her favorite saying: "The sin is not to try." -- Craig]
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95 Responses to Our Evolving Constitution: Equality
Now on The Trail
A wonderful woo hoo! As soon as you wrote that Diane swore, I thought of Patsi.
When I was a kid and the Equal Rights Amendment didn’t pass, I figured it was because we were already equal anyway. I was only blissfully ignorant about this for a short while longer.
In the late ’80s, I knew a woman who had a degree in economics who was turned down for a permanent position in a job she was already doing, in favor of a man with no experience doing that particular job because “he had a family to support.” So did she! Her husband worked, too. That was probably the end of the time-frame when any family could manage on one salary.
We all stopped dressing “lady-like” around then, too. Casual Friday turned into every day business casual. No more nylons & heels.
Heck, when I was a kid, girls couldn’t even wear pants/jeans in the winter unless it was under a dress. Ridiculous.
So, to all of the women with iron ovaries, thank you for making things easier for the rest of us.
Scalia, more of a prick or a douche? Discuss.
Peggy Noonan to Romney: “Mitt, this isn’t working.”
by Taylor Marsh
Let Them Eat Crab Cake
By MAUREEN DOWDhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/19/opinion/dowd-let-them-eat-crab-cake.html?_r=1
Love these evolving constitution pieces you did Craig. You should consider teaching a course at Georgetown on the topic -- I hear they pay for that.
More wonderful stories told well —
I have to go to work now…not too many arrrrrrrrrrrguments to day
Craig,
Great column. Loved that you dedicated this to Patsi. What is it about these tiny powerhouses? The way my 5 foot granddaughter puts it, “I may be tiny, but I’m fierce!”. It’s not wise to mess with them.
jamie, they’re natural phenoms. or should that be fem-noms? my 5’2″ eyes of blue mother was the quintessential feisty firecracker actually born on the 4th who, fittingly raised in the pioneer west, taught her sons and daughters equality by example. she could out poker, out drink, out joke, out sport and out work anyone no matter the gender. her mantra to me always was “you can do anything you set your mind to, patsy”
solar, that goes for you too. still true since you said it last year about patsi.
http://video.msnbc.msn.com/msnbc/49061902/#49061902
President Obama’s interview on the ‘Late Show with David Letterman’
Mass slaughter of farm animals set to push food prices up 14%
Farmers who cannot afford feed ‘liquidating’ pig and cattle herds will drive food inflation to record high, says Rabobank report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/sep/19/mass-slaughter-farm-animals-food-prices
Kathleen Parker shoots and scores.
Got to love any woman who wants to take Scalia on in the boxing ring!
BTW, I have decided to share with the TM gang how much I get in food stamps a month — $81. And I am very grateful for that amount. Five years ago we would have spent that much going out to dinner. Now, I make that amount work for a week of groceries. I shop all of the ‘sales’ at the grocery stores and get my senior discount at Albertsons, once a month. I use coupons. I buy meat that has been reduced as it is about to expire and cook it right away. I cook as much as possible from scratch especially beans. I even cook dried garbanzo beans. I pack a sack of food for hubby every day. We no longer eat out unless a friend or family offers to take us out. I am not complaining as I still steal some five star moments. Take that Rmoney! But, the help I am receiving from the government is a handout and I sure appreciate it. I am a weird hybrid of the middle class who has one leg in poverty and one leg in the middle class. The limbo and leg splits are getting hard for this old lady!
Oh, and I wonder how much JP Morgan receives for servicing our EBT account?
In the predatory world of private and government, too big to fail entities, I have seen an increase in convenience fees. Just like the red light cameras, they are rigged to rip-off the average citizen. The red light camera companies shorten the time of caution light so they catch more drivers speeding through the intersection. Really, can’t we have the police do this? Paid humans, not corporations who rig the system?
Convenience fees also are on the rise. When I paid my property taxes with a credit card, I was charged a percentage of my taxes! Isn’t that the reason we have credit cards? Some corporation got the money for this. Utility companies are the same…charging a fee for using a debit or credit card. As I said, predatory on the citizens and we ARE paying…so screw you Rmoney.
Craig… a great column to share in memory of Patsi… I miss her everyday I log onto here.
CBob… I was just over at newsvine to give you a thumbs up on that article.
gee BlondeW… a few dollars more and we’d all have to consider that amount “corporate welfare” (dripping with sarcasm). I’m glad you get the assistance and hope something breaks your way soon.
and now for something completely CBobish…
Massive Mosaic Unearthed From Under Field in Turkey Dates Back to Roman Empire…
that letterman obama interview should replace some of the campaign ads. imo it would chum up more votes or at least tamp down some of the bad blood and incivility out there.
wonder how mitt would fare for 36+ unscripted minutes with a letterman type. have his interviews been that long and that engaging?
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120918121551.htm
The SCOTUS had ruled corporations are people,too. But, are corporations human?
The current Supreme Court has chosen to consider an affirmative action case.http://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/One-Minute-Debate/2012/0917/3-views-on-whether-US-still-needs-affirmative-action/Yes-We-can-t-have-race-neutral-hiring-and-admissions-because-society-isn-t-race-neutral
If they get rid of affirmative action, does that mean that Justice Thomas will have to resign?
RR -
That floor is one hell of find , lots of Roman stuff popping out of the ground lately .
Headless Roman Statues Found In Turkey Show Antiquities’ Reuse
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/18/headless-roman-statues-discovered-turkey_n_1893901.html
Roman fort Julius Caesar used to conquer Gaul discovered in Germany
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=47677
All the polls show that Romney is losing but I still think that they are NOT factoring in the voter suppression efforts of the GOP that are proceeding quite well, almost unnoticed by the MSM.
The most effective tool the GOP has is just to reduce the number of voting stations per polling place in democratic districts, making the lines so long people get discouraged and leave without voting. You don’t have to pass a law to do that, just do it on a massive scale and you can steal the election.
Pollsters have no way to account for something like that, except guessing, so they just ignore it.
nash, also something they don’t factor in is the over confidence impact on voters. some for obama or leaning that way will think it’s a done deal and won’t turnout and some will think it safe to make a statement with a 3rd party throwaway vote.
from taegan’s political wire yesterday:
Late Monday night a federal judge in New York, Raymond Lohier, granted the Obama administration an “emergency” stay that temporarily blocks a ruling by U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest last week blocking the NDAA.
I shan’t be brief anymore. Justice Scalia should be fed his meals in the same manner as those geese whose livers are destined for someone’s lunch table.
Happy 30th birthday to the smiley emoticon.
Jack }
Jack… does this mean we can no longer trust emoticons…
My Christian Science Monitor cartoon contribution for today…
RR. LOL -- or the person who warned us against them.
So for 10 more days the government can indefinitely detain terror suspects with out charging them. Here’s to hoping the District Court was right (I disagree with the O admin and the prior Bush admin on this). Something about right of habeus corpus or something, that I think the same guys who wrote the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights would list under the unalienable rights that governments are instituted among men to protect.
Or, Bob, it could simply mean that our ideas about the origins of bowling are all wet.
Jon Stewart played this on his show…Mrs. George Romney talking about George as a refugee from Mexico and he was on welfare as a child…
According to Senator Carl Levin, “the language which precluded the application of section 1031 to American Citizens was in the bill that we originally approved in the Armed Services Committee and the Administration asked us to remove the language which says that US Citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section”.[23] The Senator refers to section 1021 as “1031″ because it was section 1031 at the time of his speaking.
BlondeW… I’ve read more than a few books about the fundamentalist Mormon church. One of the best kept secrets is how many children they have on welfare. This is because since polygamy is against our laws, fundamentalist can only claim one wife on their taxes. The many other wives they have are considered by law as single women and their children are considered as out of wedlock children…. therefore, the qualify for welfare. They hate government… but take as much assistance as they can get.
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/senate-races/250403-kaine-up-and-outside-margin-in-two-new-virginia-senate-polls
This should flush even more rats from the bilge of the good ship “Miss Speak” , here’s hoping she doesn’t capsize from the rush to the railings.
http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/19/13966246-obama-leads-in-two-wisconsin-polls-with-third-on-the-way?lite
“All the polls show that Romney is losing but I still think that they are NOT factoring in the voter suppression efforts of the GOP…’
I think that the polls will probably close up again.
Romney has had a bad month and it is reflected in the polls. The president of the United States need have only a bad day or a bad hour and his poll numbers and approval rating can take a dive.
In a few days all the talk of Romney’s gaffs will have faded and the talk of high gas prices or Middle east policy errors will begin to chip away at Obama’s lead.
Obama supporters will need to vote in large numbers or this will still be too close for comfort.
Craig,
Thanks for these last three posts. Have really enjoyed reading them, as well as the comments that they have prompted. Keep ‘em comin’
I’m waiting for Akins to ask the Romney campaign to stay out of Missouri
Pot could be tax windfall, but skeptics abound
jace, on first read i saw “month” as “mouth”… made sense either way.
and you are soooo right about
and another goper prez brought to us by the supremes
Patd,
Don’t even think such a thing much less say it. We can’t live that nightmare again.
Don’t count Mitt out. He still has a chance to make history.
He could go 0 for 3 in his home states.
RR..so true. The LDS compounds are like uber communes on welfare.
Patd…I saw that, too. Bad mouth Mitt!
And a source of how corporations profit from the SNAP program…
http://www.eatdrinkpolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/FoodStampsFollowtheMoneySimon.pdf
They haven’t suppressed me yet.
I intend to vote early and OFTEN!
Rats! Once again work calls.
Later.
jace, and ironically, you won’t be among the voters they suppress -- assuming you can still find your driver’s license.
loved 9/24 new yorker cartoon section on pp 70-71 under a theme
followed by several cartoons ads selling various goodies like buying congressional districts or silent whistles that “only like-minded pals will hear the real message”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/09/sen-coburn-says-he-cant-face-cowardly-congress/
Oh, Susana! running from Rmoney. He is talking about the entire state of New Mexico being the 47%!
http://abcnews.go.com/ABC_Univision/Politics/susana-martinez-criticizes-mitt-romneys-47-percent-comment/story?id=17270956#.UFopW7JmSeE
The Equality Debate
“The SCOTUS had ruled corporations are people,too. But, are corporations human?” -- Blonde Wino @ 10:41am
Some Corporations Are More Equal Than Others.
Has rasmussen taken a dive?
Is Gravis wholey owned by a republican entity ?
http://craigcrawford.com/2012/09/19/our-evolving-constitution-equality/#comment-298401
BW,
Your amazing and deserve so much better from a country like are’s that wastes so much money fighting endless wars. I say to hell with Romney and his ilk, their whats wrong with this country, oh and godly too, rubbish..Keep your chin up and i hope someday things will turn in your favor..
They’ll never take me alive, Tony! You are very generous and I thank you.
xrep…no one even polls in South Carolina, anymore. Last poll on TPM had Herman Cain ahead of Obama by 2.
Both Mrs. Rmoneys mention the food of the poor --
pasta, tuna and potatoes.
Sounds like my weekly menu.
Hi Pat,
Thought you might enjoy this. I sent it to my BF a moment ago and it refers to your Grace question from yesterday..Steve(BF) messaged me yesterday about Grace being in the 47%..Oh and Mary is my Wednesday client, big right winger..Ha, Mary just sent me a conservative sample Florida voting ballot, ugh, she must have bumped her head!!!!
Mary Matalin is proud of Mittens for calling people who work for staples parasites
MsCracker,
Mary Matalin must be working for Obama.
And, Clint Eastwood calls republicans fools to let him speak !
Mitt Romney and the “He Can Still Win” Mantra in the Media
by Taylor Marsh
I’m simply disgusted with my conversations today…
Tony… but now you’re here… hope you aren’t disgusted (teasing)… I know you’re not. You’re one of the good guys, Tony. Glad you’re here.
KGC… well then… parasites wear RED shirts…
Ha, Renee, your a sweetheart! Oh and i know for sure as I’ve met you
Thank you.
Oh no, never disgusted by TM..I mean what really disgusted me today was the sheer madness in saying President Obama has weakened are military..I mean i even threw out Google to the ladies but they would have none of it..It’s the same ole right wing mantra, I believe it so its so, facts be damned..
I am reminded of the slaves efforts to join the Union Army.
I’m pretty sure these efforts just make the target groups mad.
It made Joyce, Lilly Ledbetter, and Patsi mad.
If history teaches one thing, people do not lay down like dogs.
Young Crawford -
Your picture from the top deck is the toast of Buddy Holly Ave.
Everyone gets that just the cap visited the spot My friend Larry, gets it .
You guys shot genius , on the spur of the moment.
Email me with your current ground address , and I’ll tip ya’lll with a fresh red one and black one. These caps are a much better in fit, better materials, and better made.
This nation, of the 53%, by the 53%, and for the 1/53%
Young Crawford -
If I had the grey matter left , I would have made a whole web site to support that one genius picture .
Yep, Clint seems to have punked the republicans….
“Anyone dumb enough to ask me to speak at their political convention will have to take what they get.”
Blonde -
My food stamp story goes back 42 years, in our commune we all pooled our food stamps. We drove to Boulder to buy food. 500 miles every week . When my sister died last summer, she was collecting $7.00 a month. Lubbock County buried her.
In the fall of 1972, I was forced off the mountain looking for food stamps. Nixon had imposed a new test, to get them ……… You had the go to 2 places, and apply for work.
A gay man , hired me. I was his first employee , today “The Milll and Cabinet Shop” is still in business .
He is dead and I tell this tale.
The ‘Mitt can still win’ theme, the media needs that story line like the rest of us need oxygen. It has to be a horse race or people on both sides will tune it out altogether, in as much as neither candidate is offering anything in the way of solutions. Obama offers more of the same, and Mitt a stronger dose of what got us here in the first place. Specifics be damned.
Regardless of the outcome, on November 7th the media will begin handicapping the next horse race.
Look for Clinton vs. Rubio, or Clinton vs.Christi.
Paul Ryan will be a dark horse because he and Mitt lost Wisconsin.
“If I had the grey matter left”,
CBob,
I think that there is plenty of grey matter left.
jace
That was the last time I ever looked for stamps.
If Obama gets 300+ electoral votes, conservatives will claim that they were not conservative enough to attract votes from a right of center nation.
Then watch the nut jobs crawl out of the woodwork.
Can you say Michelle Bachmann or Allen West on steroids?
Today, the blood, sweat , and tears of my father keeps me from living on the street.
I had planned to die so much earlier.
I had planned to die so much earlier.
I’ll be 63 at 11:55 tomorrow night , you’ll want to eat ‘German chocolate cake’ with pecans, and a ton of coconut in the frosting.
Did all those local stations get cash up front for the media time the candidates and their campaigns have ‘purchased’ up through election day?
CBob, check out who’s a fan now.. http://twitpic.com/awf61p
Abe says Happy Birthday!
I have always called for ‘German chocolate cake’ on my birthday. I never eat it, except for my birthday.
And I love it dearly , I would weight 500 pounds if I didn’t eat it once a year.
Blonde -
Corn & Beans combine to form a complete protein in the human body. This built the Aztec , the Mayans, the peoples of New Mexico . Everything else was grown to make you forget you were eating corn & beans.
Band together with the other women on your street . I promise you, we are all in the same boat .
Unless you have boat elevator , which will lift you and your Cayman Island bank accounts above the 3 feet of sea level rise in the next 50 years.
They grew lots of squash,too.
Premature Happy Birthday, Mr. Bob !
At 63, you’ve made a difference to people. To us.
To me.
Now, keep on getting older.
Damn, how I hate messing up a birthday card.
I will show them how to avoid taxes in the Caymans !
Dear X -
Thanks , I have always tried to push the dialog. Where ever I was .
This makes me a complete, and total pain-in- the- ass.
CBob…
Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!
May you have many more,have a great evening.
Goodnight all………..
Blonde Wino, re yours of 5:19pm : The Latest SC Poll Reported by RealClear Politics :
NBC News/Marist
12/4/11 -- 12/6/11 2107 RV, 2.1 MOE, 45 -- 42 : Obama +3
Good night Mr.Paranoid.
Goodnight everyone.
May the hackers soon release the tax forms.
Heads were knocked off when the person was unpopular. It was the populace’s not so subtle way to show that they are really pissed off at the person.
Idiots like to claim that this time period just like the last few are the ultimate human experience and that we are superior to the earlier ones. It amuses me to no end that the article states the statues are propping up modern structures just like the Ancient Egyptian temples, which used stone work from earlier temples to the newer ones (we know this because when you turn the stones around you find older inscriptions on the back), or the Middle Ages’ forts in Greece, which were created by using the Classical era’s walls and structures.
This sounds like a lot of guess work. I do not see anything pointing to Caesar besides the researcher’s guesses about the inhabitants of the location. The truth is that there were bases inside of Germania or modern day Saudia Arabia; well outside of what is normally taught to students. Until I read carbon dating and dendrochronology, I am not apt to agree with its findings. It looks to be a fundraising opportunity using the well-known name of Caesar, and his famous “good will” campaign to aid Gallic tribes and bring them under the Roman banner to fund the archaeological dig.
Before bed, one more item: Electoral college compromise
Each state gets the Electoral Votes that = 2 senators and one for each House District.
Instead of eliminating the EC, eliminate the EVs that represent senate seats. Let the states each determine their own winner-take-all or proportional system, as they please.
The result would give us a much more representative Electoral College. The micro-states already wield too much power through the undemocratic Senate arrangement of 2 seats per state. We don’t need that re-createdin the E.C.
The states reduced to only one EV would of necessity be winner take all.
Jslf,
We can date roman military sites a number of ways. One of the best can be by the armour. There were distinctive changes in armour and weapons during certain periods. Where you find the old and new together, you can even date them to a certain year.
By a Venn process one can acertain arough date. A style of pottery was used from 100 bc to 100 ad. A certain shoe nail from the same stratum was produced from 25 bc to 125 ad. A coin in the same stratum bears the legend ‘DOMITIANUS IMP’ (ruled 81-96 ad) Therefore, the site was no earlier that 81 ad to (roughly) 100 ad.
While romans made fake antique statues, they didn’t bother making fake antique pots, nails, or coins the way we do. Also, government often decreed how apparel, pots, armour, etc, were to be made, so the items show little variation. Therefore, dating through these items is fairly straight forward.
Btw, on Sept. 13th we missed the 1,931 anniversary of domitian’s ascension to imperial power. roman emperors were a bad lot, and domitian was worse than many.
Dendrochronology can tell when the tree was cut, but like coins, can only tell the earliest possible date, not when the wood was turned into a beam, or from a beam into shingles 500 years later, or fire wood a century after that.
By Judge Andrew Napolitano
What if the principal parties’ candidates for president really agree more than they disagree?
What if they both support the authority of the federal government to spy on Americans without search warrants? What if they both support confining foreigners, uncharged and untried, in Guantanamo Bay? What if they both believe the president can arrest without charge and confine without trial any American he hates or fears?
What if they both believe in secret courts — kept away from the public and the press — that can take away the rights of Americans? What if they both think the president can disregard the Constitution when it comes to the rights of those the government has confined to speedy trials, to confront witnesses and evidence against them, and to counsel of their choosing? What if they both believe the government can use evidence obtained under torture at trials in American courts? What if they both think the president can incarcerate those he once prosecuted, even after acquittal?
What if both major presidential candidates believe they can fight any war, assassinate any foe or assault any country using the military or the CIA, and they need not ask Congress for a declaration of war as the Constitution requires, nor account to Congress or the public as the law requires? What if they both want American troops to remain in Afghanistan, even though no foreign country in history has successfully done so, and even though the culture in Afghanistan is as lawless, as vicious to women and children, and as harmless to America today as it was when President Bush invaded it in 2001?
Craig, I can’t keep up with all the posts but want to tell you that I forgot to breathe as I read your stroll thru Philadelphia. What a work of art! I’m printing it and showing it to friends. I havve actually time traveled now. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Happy birthday, C-Bob! And many, many more!
President Barack Obama’s Justice Department has sent letters to more than 57 medical marijuana businesses in Colorado, threatening the owners with imprisonment or asset forfeiture despite their compliance with state law
NEW THREAD