What I’ve been reading lately…. Please leave comments about, well, anything. And as always, feel free to post links, to your own stuff or to other folks’ stuff.
The Fifth Carnival of Feminists Is Up! How Magazine Covers Are Retouched New Anti-Prostitution Bill Targets Johns Harold Pinter Speech On American Wrongdoing Statistics I Used In An Earlier Post Under Question Teen Pregnancy Down The Grossest Pet Story Ever Professor Files Complaint Against A Muslim Printer Repair Guy Who Wrote A Homophobic Email Susan Faludi is Cool Pentagon Threatened By Queer Kissing Patriarchy Shaken in Small Croatian Village After their success, the women of Lozisca on the island of Brac vowed “to let the men back into our beds, but never back into politics”. They won all seven seats on the local council after deciding they were sick of seeing the village men doing nothing for the community. (Curtsy: Shakespeare’s Sister.) Video of Shirtless Jocks Lip Synching “Turn Around, Bright Eyes” Fat Phobia In Small Children – What’s a Liberal Mom To Do? Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers and Walt Disney Middle-Ground Proposals To Reduce Abortion From Gruntled Center: The 95-10 proposal has the ambitious aim to reduce the number of abortions by 95% in ten years. The program starts with better education about birth prevention, the pregnancy support that is already available, the extent of the national abortion rate, and counseling and daycare on campus, an issue I wrote about recently. The act would then make existing adoption tax credits permanent, ban jacking up insurance rates for the “pre-existing condition” of pregnancy (as if it were a disease), and increase funding against domestic violence, as murder is the leading cause of death for pregnant women. The 95-10 proposal does not end with the child’s birth, though; the act would fully fund the Women, Infants, and Children program, and require the successful State Child Health Insurance Programs to include pregnant women and their babies. Tilda Swanson is Awesome Lose Weight Or You’ll Be Forced To Date Black Men! Bennett explains that only a racist would find that racist. Via Pinko Feminist Hellcat and Echidne. Congratulations to Lab Cat!
This enjoyable site graphically demonstrates, with bef0re-and-after clicking, how much the cover photos of fashion magazines are retouched. It’s pretty impressive – the breast makeover is particularly ridiculous looking. Curtsy: The F-Word.
Interesting article in the Washington Post about a new federal anti-prostitution bill, which is aimed at reducing demand. “…In addition to funding shelters for ex-prostitutes and sponsoring a statistical survey of prostitution, it would authorize $25 million a year to law enforcement to reduce demand. Techniques would include using female decoys, posting pictures of johns on the Internet and establishing “john schools” to reeducate sex clients.”
Historical Conflict posts excerpts from a recent Harold Pinter speech, which (at least in the bits quoted) concentrates on the ills the US has done in Central America, and on the seemingly infinite American capacity to ignore and forget any harms done by the US.
The excellent Doctor Science brings up some statistics contrary to the ones I cited in this post about the “Boy Crisis.” The good Doctor also provides a link to this report from the American Council on Education (.pdf link), which is where the stats I used apparently came from (the report concludes that race and class, more than sex, is where the most crucial educational disparities lie). For a discussion of the statistics, read the comments at Rachels Tavern.
Gruntled Center reports that teen pregnancy rates are dropping. He also cites a study which found that half the drop is because of better birth control; a quarter because of increased abstinence; and a quarter because non-abstinent teens are having sex less often than they used to.
Scroll down about a screen and you can read it. But it’s really gross. Curtsy: Grand Mental Station.UMASS Student Questioned by Federal Agents For Studying Mao Tse-Tung
From the article: “I tell my students to go to the direct source, and so he asked for the official Peking version of the book,” Professor Pontbriand said. “Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring inter-library loans, because that’s what triggered the visit, as I understand it.”
UPDATE: Turns out this story is a hoax – the student made it up.
I hate homophobia, but homophobes should still have free speech rights – including the right to respond negatively to an unsolicited pro-queer email. This professor (who is, I cringe upon reading, the head of the Women’s Studies Department) showed appallingly bad judgement in filing charges.
“My goal is to be accused of being strident.” – Susan Faludi.
From the article: Several groups are criticizing the Pentagon after press reports claimed it has been spying on civilian groups, including student groups opposed to the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel. […] A “don’t ask, don’t tell” protest at the University of California at Santa Cruz that featured a gay kiss-in was labeled by the Pentagon as a “credible threat” of terrorism. (Hat tip: Shakespeare’s Sister).
From the article: Women in a Croatian village have seized power from their lazy menfolk in local elections.
I find it strangely compelling. Be sure to watch their version of Love Lifts, as well. Hat tip: Robert.
Two interesting posts from LA Mom (here and here) about the disturbing emergence of anti-fat bigotry in her son.
Really interesting article about how the creator of Mary Poppins agreed to let Disney make the movie – even though Disney, of course, made changes she found appalling. Also, it turns out the end of the movie was intended by Disney to be anti-suffragette – I had no idea.
Gruntled Center has two proposals that he thinks both pro-lifers and pro-choicers can support: The “95-10” plan, which attempts to reduce abortion by reducing the demand in non-coercive ways, such as providing more on-campus resources (such as daycare) for college students with children.
I saw The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and liked it – it was a reasonably faithful adaptation of the novel. But I can’t say I loved it; it was loads of fun, but nonetheless felt uninspired. The best thing in it was Tilda Swanson’s astounding, scary performance as The White Witch. I’m not sure if it passes The Mo Movie Measure or not; it depends on whether or not discussing a deceased male God counts as discussing a man.
Back in August, Kim posted about the anti-fat diatribes of Dr. Terry Bennett. Now it turns out his standard speech also includes a racial component:
…Who has had a short story nominated for a Ray Bradbury award.
Barry’s BlueSky- Untitled May 16, 2024It's basically impossible to parody the modern right. [contains quote post or other embedded content]
- Untitled May 16, 2024The Existence of Trains Debate #PoliCartoon #Climate #ClimateChange #GlobalWarming
- Untitled May 15, 2024Two of the most common complaints I get about my cartoons: 1) You left something out! 2) You use way too many words.
- Untitled May 15, 2024The Six Kinds of Republican #PoliCartoon
- Untitled May 15, 2024I think part of what's going on is that some people always like an excuse to be mean yet think of themselves as virtuous. (Happens on all sides, btw.) But another reason - particularly wrt Gaza - is that we feel helpless. We're stuck in "this is so horrible, I must do SOMETHING! But what?" […]
- Untitled May 15, 2024Regarding the new Hillel survey of Jewish college students, I can't find anything about their sampling methodology. But in Hillel's sample, Jews are 50% moderate or conservative. That would make Jewish undergrads far to the right of US Jews in general.
- Untitled May 16, 2024
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Some Self-serving Links of interest…
Ohh, CAnada!
Merely a link, but I plan to add scandalous reminicences tomorrow. it also opens up some interesting thoughts on the meaning of Liberty.
George Bush cites Divine Right of Kings.
Hi Amp,
I’ve also found and posted about another site that shows the difference between an ‘original’ and a retouched photo for publication.
TP:
Here is your link (you left out a / between the “com” and the “2005”).
I would like to request that you consider adding Eric Lee to the single-issue blogroll. His LabourStart is one hell of a read:
http://www.labourstart.org/
Here are two posts by Dennis Mangan and myself discussing a possible biological basis for at least part of the black-white health gap in the U.S.: namely, vitamin D deficiency. [It is harder for darker-skinned people to synthesize vitamin D from exposure to sunlight]. If we are correct, this nutritional deficiency should be easily correctable.
I am dying to find an abortion-reduction plan that I, as a pro-choice person, can support. At first, I thought the 95-10 proposal was it – finally! Then I got to the part advocating national parental notification laws. No, no, no. Creating logistical roadblocks to providing prompt health care services for young women is not the answer. Back to the drawing board…sigh.
the frat boys… kind of like a drag show without the drag.
Done! Thanks for pointing that one out to me, it’s really good. I wouldn’t say it’s a good read, exactly, but it’s a hell of a good link collection.
Thank you for these. I’m up with my stupid sinuses and now I have stuff to read.
So I’m just surfing the web, chasing links as you do, (don’t you just hate it when people say “as you do”), when I come across this truly bizarre story Anybody else heard of this before?
After all the acrimony here lately, I really found this story touching.
It’s a metafilter thread on the Not In Our Town protests in Billings, Montana, and it just blew me away. Made me cry twice.
—Myca
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Rant of the day:
I want to be good. Really, I do. I WANT to use my old laser printer.
But I can buy a new printer more cheaply than I can buy a enw toner and drum. In fact, a new toner and drum for my old (used) Brother 5040, which was never an ultra expensive printer, costs about $250 total. The same money will buy me an open box (never used) laser printer that also networks, is faster, has 16x the memory, handles better paper, runs for ages, is designed for a workgroup, and, oh yeah, prints color.
It’s freakin’ ridiculous, is what it is. I mean, there HAVE to be old Broter cartridges around, don’t there?
So buy the new one, and give the old one to Goodwill, where someone will refurb it.
My local places won’t take electronics. Must be too many people trying to dump old printers… it’s not as if goodwill can’t buy new printer for the same cost I can ;) Hell, it’ll cost $35 to get rid of it, or thereabouts.
In that case, Craigslist or Freecycle. You can get rid of used tissues in the CL “free” category, so a mechanically working laser printer should go in about thirty seconds.
Here’s an interesting link on police misconduct in Seattle and what it’s like to blog on it.
Injustice in Seattle
Good call: my new printer’s on order; I’ll set this one up as a freebie and see if anyone takes it.
You might as well or you’ll be spending all your time searching the ends of the globe for those elusive Brother products.
They’re not hard to find, just expensive. It’s those Broter items which are a bear to track down. ;)
More rnadom open-threadness:
Does anyone else have a terribly hard time, as they grow older, STOPPING saving small amounts of money? Or, more accurately, realize when saving isn’t saving?
The other day I had just spent 20 minutes to save myself $2 on a network cable, when I realized I lost ten times that in billables. I just can’t stand the thought of paying a couple of bucks more than I have to but I can never convince myself that it’s worth saving time over money sometimes.
Is this a problem for everyone? Or just me?