This, that, and the other.

  • Judge Sends Pregnant Mom To Jail For Mother’s Day, Gives Custody To Abusive Dad. Trish Wilson is blogging up a storm about this case: here on her blog, and here and here on her other website.
  • Speaking of Trish, I’ve been meaning to point out these two studies she blogged about: One finding that marriage counseling doesn’t work very well, and one finding that “adolescents who take public virginity pledges are just as likely to engage in sexual activity as those who do not, according to a study of Los Angeles and San Francisco teens.”
  • Damn, does this piss me off. Remember that pro-tolerance ad from the United Church of Christ which ABC refused to run because (they claimed) ABC’s had a policy against accepting ads from religious groups? Apparently it’s only gay-accepting religious groups they turn down. ABC is running explicitly “faith-based” ads from the very religious – and very gay-hating – Focus on the Family. Wanna tell ABC what you think? 818 460-7477. (Curtsy to The Sideshow.)
  • Utopian Hell does a wonderful job “keeping her eye on the ball” as she analyzes that Title IX case in Colorado.
  • There’s a 1 in 4,745 chance that you’ll someday die due to falling off your bed, or off a chair, or some other fall involving furniture. Which is much higher than the chance you’ll someday die from drowning in a bathtub (1 in 10,582). For more fun death statistics, check out this page put together by the National Safety Council.
  • Crooked Timber presents South Park Republican Bingo (which seems like an odd name, since South Park Republicans are supposed to hate stuff like this). Nevertheless, it’s really impressive seeing it all put together in one chart.
  • Something that could have been included in South Park Republican Bingo: in Virginia, American history textbooks omit the Civil War.
  • Amanda at Pandagon concludes her excellent five-part series on the men’s rights movement. I’ve closely read and enjoyed all of these posts.
  • BBC NEWS: A two-day prison siege in Australia has ended after inmates agreed to exchange their hostage for a delivery of pizzas.
  • Suzanne Nossel describes the Top Ten Things the UN Does Well.
  • Interesting – and, to me, compelling – argument against Oregon’s assisted suicide law: “If assisted suicide were really about personal autonomy, it would be available to all suicidal people. But really, assisted suicide statutes are the ultimate societal judgment that the life of a person with a disability is not as worthwhile as that of a non-disabled person.” The Gimp Parade has more.
  • Pro-Life wacko thinks that everyone in Georgia has sex with mules.
  • Christine at Ms Magazine highlights a bunch of interesting articles about Mother’s Day.
  • AmbivaBlog has a well-observed post musing on the pleasures of blogging – and how blogging changes how you view blogging. “But the blog generates a drawing sensation. Every day it’s empty again and needs to be fed.” Curtsy to Ann Althouse.
  • “It has taken me a long time to decide that this article is not a hoax. I so wanted it to be a joke. It is written by one Ronald E. Williams, an American Talibanist of an extreme kind, and it advocates corporeal punishment of children.” It gets worse – much worse. Go to Echidne’s blog to read the rest.
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10 Responses to This, that, and the other.

  1. Trish Wilson says:

    That case of the pregnant mother being jailed on Mother’s Day was astounding. It received no coverage, while two fathers’ rights articles were published on Mother’s Day. The big one was in the New York Times. I haven’t received any updates on the pregnant mom case yet, but when I do I’ll post them.

  2. Jake Squid says:

    “If assisted suicide were really about personal autonomy, it would be available to all suicidal people. But really, assisted suicide statutes are the ultimate societal judgment that the life of a person with a disability is not as worthwhile as that of a non-disabled person.”?

    That just doesn’t work for me. As I understand it, and it’s always possible that I’m terribly mistaken, Oregon’s assisted suicide law applies only to those w/ a terminal condition leaving them with less than 6 months to live. By this standard, everybody is disabled prior to death. I just can’t see a 92 year old (or a 27 year old, etc.) w/ terminal cancer and 3 months to live to as a disabled person. To me, that is a dying person.

    I don’t believe that assisted suicide is about “personal autonomy,” whatever that means – and I’m sure my interpretation is different than the intent. I do, however, agree that assisted suicide should be available to all people.

    Obviously I don’t have the perspective that the disabled community does, but I absolutely want to be able to make that decision for myself should the time ever come without exposing family and friends to criminal prosecution.

  3. zuzu says:

    I swear I’ve seen that Dutchess County judge’s name before. I’ll see what I can dig up.

    Minor quibble: I believe, though this is from memory, that the stated reason for ABC’s turning down UCC’s ad was not that it was from a religious group, but that it commented on an issue currently under consideration by Congress (albeit stretching that definition to assume the ad was commenting on the gay marriage amendment then being considered).

  4. because, of course, Focus on the Family isn’t going to be commenting on anything political *smile*

  5. Alex R says:

    And in case anyone thinks that the item on ABC’s accepting of a Focus-on-the-Family ad and the Ronald E. Williams corporal punishment item are unconnected, please take a look at this post (and the ensuing comment thread) over at Electrolite.

    The common denominator, of course, is child abuse masquerading as “Christian” parenting. FOTF’s Dobson is less extreme than Williams, but still…

  6. Ampersand says:

    Zuzu, from The New York Times earlier this week:

    Monday’s season finale of “Supernanny” included a commercial for a Web site offering child-rearing advice from Focus on the Family, a group that says its “primary reason for existence is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ through a practical outreach to homes.”

    The United Church of Christ, a Cleveland-based church that says it has 1.3 million members, has asked why the Focus on the Family ad was accepted when ABC rejected its requests to buy time as part of its national advertising campaign. The United Church of Christ ads, which depicted a variety of people – gay, disabled, racially diverse – said: “Jesus didn’t turn people away. Neither do we.”

    Olivia Cohen-Cutler, senior vice president for broadcast standards and policy at ABC, said in a statement, “The ABC Television Network does not accept ads from organizations which present religious doctrine.” The network said it accepts ads from religious organizations, including the Salvation Army, as long as the commercials do not proselytize.

    The Focus on the Family ad said, “We’ll be there with parenting advice, and a faith-based perspective that can make all the difference.”

    I think what you’re remembering is why NBC and CBS said they wouldn’t run the UCC ad.

  7. Julian Elson says:

    Echidne’s find really scared me.

    1-2 hour sessions of beatings? Cripes.

    It makes me so grateful that I have such great parents. Ooh… that reminds me, I need to send the copies of Persepolis I got to my mom for (belated) Mother’s Day. I think she’ll like them.

    I think that Neil Horsely has got to be the best possible name for the pro-life weirdo who thinks that everyone on a Georgian farm has sex with mules.

  8. zuzu says:

    You’re right, Amp. I missed that ABC had given a different reason.

    How scary to know that Dobson the Dachshund Beater is the less extreme of the two.

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