{"id":1044,"date":"2004-08-27T13:37:04","date_gmt":"2004-08-27T21:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/08\/27\/a-bunch-of-links\/"},"modified":"2004-08-27T13:37:04","modified_gmt":"2004-08-27T21:37:04","slug":"a-bunch-of-links","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=1044","title":{"rendered":"A bunch of links"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.lathefamily.org\/warren3\/equalitymap\/archives\/001027.shtml\">Marriage Equality: State by State <\/a>has a link to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.supportequality.org\/\">Support Equality<\/a>, a terrific service which allows you to donate money to help pro-gay-marriage candidates to the Massachusetts state congress. This is a great way to help prevent anti-equality forces in Massachusetts from overturning same-sex marriage there; they&#8217;re hoping to turn thousands of folks from all over who can afford to give only $5 or $10 into a significant force. (My household donated $25). And 100% of the money goes to the candidates.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/trishwilson.typepad.com\/blog\/2004\/08\/more_regulation.html\">Mom jailed for smoking near her kids.<\/a>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacificviews.org\/weblog\/archives\/000381.html\">Pacific News <\/a>reports that the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act is keeping a lesbian from the Bankrupcy protections that any straight married couple would automatically get. &#8220;The couple was legally married in British Columbia, but a federal bankruptcy judge has ruled that DOMA is constitutional, and that the two women cannot file for bankruptcy as a married couple. That bankruptcy, incidentally, was the result of both partners being diagnosed with cancer. One of the women recently died.&#8221; Nice way to protect families, homophobes.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.msmagazine.com\/blog\/archives\/2004\/08\/pushing_princes.html\">Ms Musings <\/a>has an as-usual-excellent post analysing the corporate push behind the &#8220;Princess&#8221; trend. (Christine also points out that my favorite Disney protagonist, Mulan, is being repackaged by Disney to fit their &#8220;Princess&#8221; marketing line. Blech.)\n<li>Israel is <a href=\"http:\/\/media.guardian.co.uk\/site\/story\/0,14173,1290526,00.html\">deporting a British journalist <\/a>because they don&#8217;t like her &#8220;her political and ideological beliefs.&#8221; The judge admitted that she&#8217;s not a &#8220;security threat,&#8221; but deported her because her reporting might, in an unspecified way, &#8220;be used by others.&#8221;\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com\/2004_08_01_echidneofthesnakes_archive.html#109217850416732624\">Echidne of the Snakes, in a post I somehow missed<\/a>, discusses Martha Nussbaum&#8217;s views (Martha Nussbaum is also the focus of a recent &#8220;Alas&#8221; post on <a href=\"http:\/\/amptoons.poliblog.com\/blog\/001018.html\">Disgust and Prejudice<\/a>). Here&#8217;s a sample:\n<div class=\"snip\"> Nussbaum points out that women have almost always carried some aspects of the disgusting and the shameful by just being born female. This is because women are more closely associated (in some minds at least) to the earthly via the processes of menstruation and giving birth, and because to some men the bodies of women are seen as the depositories of their own bodily wastes, the ever-present reminders of death. If one then combines the repugnance of the female body to such men with the idea of its sexual attractiveness, a base for misogyny may be created.<\/p>\n<p>I am not sure if I find this theory an adequate one, but it is certainly true that many so-called primitive tribes attribute the reason for women&#8217;s lower social standing to their ability to menstruate. This ability seems to be viewed as both disgusting and frightening at the same time, which supports Nussbaum&#8217;s arguments.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Echidne also discusses Nussbaum&#8217;s concept of &#8220;dignity,&#8221; which according to Nussbaum is the opposite of disgust. <a href=\"http:\/\/echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com\/2004_08_01_echidneofthesnakes_archive.html#109217850416732624\">Read the whole thing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.redpolka.org\/blog\/archives\/001592.html\">Wicked Thoughts <\/a>has an excellent post on &#8220;the crisis of fat.&#8221;\n<li>Does anyone know where I could find the text of the official GOP Platform (which, I think, is currently &#8220;in progress&#8221;?). This <a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/articles\/A32788-2004Aug25.html?nav=headlines\"><i>Washington Post <\/i>article <\/a>makes it sound as if the &#8220;protecting marriage&#8221; plank is not only anti-gay marriage, but also anti-Civil Unions. According to the Post, the plank &#8220;says same-sex couples should not receive legal benefits set aside for married couples&#8221; &#8211; which is what Civil Unions do, of course.\n<li>A <i>Washington Blade <\/i>op-ed rightly criticizes Kerry for doing so much <a href=\"http:\/\/washblade.com\/2004\/8-20\/view\/columns\/shame.cfm\">campaigning against same-sex marriage<\/a>. Couldn&#8217;t he have just retreated into a cowardly silence on the issue?\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.wickedmuse.net\/archives\/2004\/08\/25\/34\/\">Wicked Muse<\/a>, inspired by <a href=\"http:\/\/amptoons.poliblog.com\/blog\/001015.html\">a post here on &#8220;Alas,&#8221; <\/a>is asking for comments on the question &#8220;Can Men Be Feminists?&#8221;\n<li>Bouncing off of the same discussion, <a href=\"http:\/\/trishwilson.typepad.com\/blog\/2004\/08\/white_guys_and_.html\">Trish Wilson<\/a> has a post on &#8220;White Guys and Privilege.&#8221; Trish&#8217;s site is slow loading today, so you may want to look for the same post on <a href=\"http:\/\/xxblog.com\/index.php\/archives\/2004\/08\/26\/male-privilege\/\">XX<\/a>.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/arkhangel.blogs.com\/counterpoint\/2004\/08\/over_the_bridge.html\">&#8220;Over the Bridge,&#8221;<\/a> a must-read post by an American soldier. Via <a href=\"http:\/\/respectfulofotters.blogspot.com\/2004_08_01_respectfulofotters_archive.html#109292062332658219\">Respectful of Otters<\/a>.\n<li>I don&#8217;t think anything done by any of the major candidates this close to the election is by accident, or represents emotion overcoming strategy. For instance, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.salon.com\/news\/wire\/2004\/08\/25\/cheney\/index.html\">Cheney&#8217;s recent mild statement in favor of same-sex marriage <\/a>seems like &#8220;compassionate conservative&#8221; positioning &#8211; not unlike the decision to have some the most liberal Republicans in the nation spotlighted at the Republican Convention, even though they don&#8217;t represent the policies Bush will pursue.\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mousewords.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/how-is-one-of-these-things-not-like.html\">Mouse Words<\/a> has an excellent analysis of how Cheney&#8217;s statement was in all liklihood a calculated move to help the GOP.<\/p>\n<li>Ellen Goodman presents <a href=\"http:\/\/www.boston.com\/news\/globe\/editorial_opinion\/oped\/articles\/2004\/08\/26\/setting_back_womens_rights?pg=full\">the 2004 Equal Rites Awards,  <\/a>&#8220;given annually to those who have done their most to set back the cause of equality.&#8221;\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.enquirer.com\/editions\/2004\/08\/26\/loc_loc1poll.html\">An Ohio poll<\/a> shows 56% of Ohio voters are in favor of amending their constitution to ban gay marriage and domestic partner benefits. That&#8217;s actually pretty good news &#8211; support for the amendment is much weaker than many folks expected. When more voters realize that it not only bans gay marriage but also any benefits at all to same-sex couples, it&#8217;s possible that support will go down even further. It&#8217;s also possible that lawsuits will keep this proposal off the November ballot.\n<li>If you haven&#8217;t seen it before, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.blessa.com\/64-equals-65.gif\">this math puzzle &#8211; which appears to prove that 64 equals 65<\/a> &#8211; is lots of fun. Via <a href=\"http:\/\/volokh.com\/archives\/archive_2004_08_21.shtml#1093524465\">Eugene Volokh<\/a>, who provides an explanation of the trick.\n<li>I just discovered <a href=\"http:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/default.aspx\">Factcheck.org<\/a>, an imporessively nonpartisan website which fact-checks ads and claims from both Democrats and Republicans.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/unfutz.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/electoral-college-survey-822.html\">Unfutz has a new survey <\/a>of all the electoral vote projections. The large majority &#8211; including some <a href=\"http:\/\/www.electionprojection.com\/elections2004.html\">right-wing <\/a>sites &#8211; find that Kerry is winning. But Bush is gaining in recent polls, and what with the Republican Convention and all, the next couple of weeks will be distressing for Kerryite poll-watchers.\n<p>It&#8217;s fun looking at all the various electoral college projection sites, and seeing how they vary in design and presentation. My favorite right now is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mydd.com\/popup.html\">MyDD&#8217;s map, <\/a>which lets you toggle each state&#8217;s preferred candidate so you can play &#8220;what if&#8221; games. Also, they&#8217;ve distorted the map so that state size reflects electoral vote total.<\/p>\n<li><i>USA Today <\/i>has a decent <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/politicselections\/nation\/polls\/2004-08-25-female-vote_x.htm\">article on the &#8220;marriage gap.&#8221;<\/a> Some stats: Among all women who are registered voters, 45% favor Bush, 50% favor Kerry. Among married women, 54% favor Bush, 41% Kerry. Among unmarried women, it&#8217;s 35% Bush, 60% Kerry.\n<p>Unsurprisingly, there&#8217;s been a lot of well-intentioned but sometimes off-target get-out-the-single-woman vote efforts. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.redpolka.org\/blog\/archives\/001596.html\">Wicked Thoughts<\/a> has a good discussion of the issue, and of the ickiness.<\/p>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/news\/health\/2004-08-27-bone-jaw_x.htm\">Doctors use man&#8217;s back to grow new jawbone<\/a>. Cooooool.\n<li>Excellent Mouse Words post puts what&#8217;s at stake in the Social Security fight into perspective: <a href=\"http:\/\/mousewords.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/greenspan-wants-your-parents-to-move.html\">Greenspan wants your parents to move back in with you.<\/a>\n<li>Some very high-quality Supreme Court Blogging over at Balkinization. In a pair of posts, Jack Balkin describes how <i>Roe v Wade <\/i>just barely survived Rehnquist&#8217;s attempts to overturn it in <a href=\"http:\/\/balkin.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/day-roe-was-overruled-prequel.html\">the 1989 <i>Webster <\/i>case <\/a>and then again in <a href=\"http:\/\/balkin.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/from-blackmun-papers-day-roe-v-wade.html\">the 1992 <i>Casey <\/i>case.<\/a>\n<p>Meanwhile, Balkinization guest blogger Mark Tushnet (father of Eve) describes how the <a href=\"http:\/\/balkin.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/understanding-rehnquist-court.html\">conservatives on the Court<\/a> are divided among themselves, and how <a href=\"http:\/\/balkin.blogspot.com\/2004\/08\/understanding-rehnquist-court-ii.html\">the liberals are not<\/a>. I found this bit of the latter post particularly interesting:<\/p>\n<div class=\"snip\">[Justice Stevens, the leader of the Court&#8217;s liberals, has benefited from] Rehnquist&#8217;s insistence that each justice end up with an equal number of majority opinions at the end of each Term. When the Court&#8217;s unanimous, or nearly so, Rehnquist will assign the &#8220;dogs&#8221; to some of the liberals. When the liberals manage to get a majority, Stevens can &#8220;use up&#8221; an opinion assignment, thereby restricting Rehnquist&#8217;s options as the Term goes on. (One effect, for example, is that Rehnquist is forced into giving more assignments to Scalia and Thomas than he would [probably] like &#8212; because those two justices are more likely to draft hard-edged conservative opinions that will lead O&#8217;Connor or Kennedy to have second thoughts.)<\/div>\n<li>Want more links? Check out the latest <a href=\"http:\/\/www.pacificviews.org\/weblog\/archives\/000397.html\">Pacific Views <\/a>blog round-up.<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marriage Equality: State by State has a link to Support Equality, a terrific service which allows you to donate money to help pro-gay-marriage candidates to the Massachusetts state congress. This is a great way to help prevent anti-equality forces in &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=1044\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-link-farms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}