{"id":1769,"date":"2005-08-08T16:08:52","date_gmt":"2005-08-08T23:08:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2005\/08\/08\/in-the-news-and-blogosphere-today\/"},"modified":"2005-08-08T16:08:52","modified_gmt":"2005-08-08T23:08:52","slug":"in-the-news-and-blogosphere-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=1769","title":{"rendered":"In the news and blogosphere today…"},"content":{"rendered":"

…because I’m too lazy to do some original blogging (I just got off work, I’m tired damn it). Via DED Space<\/a><\/strong> and originally the Daily Kos<\/a><\/strong>, a protestor who’s being supported by the women’s peace\/anti-war group CODE PINK, Cindy Sheehan<\/a><\/strong>, is awaiting to be arrested for being a “threat to national security” according to the authorities, while protesting outside of Dubya Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas.<\/p>\n

Cindy Sheehan phoned me from Texas a few minutes ago to say that she’s been informed that beginning Thursday, she and her companions will be considered a threat to national security and will be arrested. Coincidentally, Thursday is the day that Rice and Rumsfeld visit the ranch, and Friday is a fundraiser event for the haves and the have mores. Cindy said that she and others plan to be arrested.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes because we all know how “threatening” it is to peacefully demonstrate against a wartime president–whatever. Also from DED Space<\/em>, a reminder of the hypocrisy we see in the media when it comes to criticizing Islamic extremism but not Christian extremism<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

[…]However, it should be noted that no one ever gets on television to vent frustration that mainstream Christians are doing nothing to condemn Christian extremists. One sometimes wonders if there are any mainstream Christians left among us. Snowflakes, science-bashing, clinic bombings, exploitation of a dying woman, financial support for Eric Rudolph, legislation to bar gay citizens from possessing civil rights…where is the protest? I’m certainly not hearing it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apparently because one version of religious extremism is “okay,” because it’s ‘home grown’ and ‘it<\/em>‘ dominates one political party, that happens to control both the White House and the Congress.<\/p>\n

From LAMBDA Legal<\/a><\/strong>; attorneys of the pro-LGBT civil rights group will defend New York’s lower court ruling upholding marriage equality<\/a><\/strong> for Queer couples.<\/p>\n

Today, Lambda Legal filed papers in the Appellate Division, First Department (the state’s middle court) to defend a lower court ruling that said same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in New York. The City filed an appeal seeking to overturn the ruling earlier this spring.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Best of luck to LAMBDA Legal<\/em> and the same-sex couples of New York seeking marriage equality.<\/p>\n

From Feminist Majority<\/a><\/strong>; Women Senators have sent a letter to Bush<\/a><\/strong>, expressing their concerns for the newly drafted constitution of Iraq, that may have not granted equality to Iraqi women.<\/p>\n

Eleven women Senators sent a letter to President Bush yesterday expressing their concerns that the draft Iraqi constitution includes provisions that “may jeopardize the rights of Iraqi women.” Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Hillary R. Clinton (D-NY), Susan Collins (R-ME), Diane Feinstein (D-CA), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Blanche L. Lincoln (D-AR), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), Patty Murray (D-WA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) cited recent comments by the United States Ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, that the United States will work to guarantee equality in the new constitution in urging Bush to “continue to express our support for a constitution that would maintain rights for women and equality for all Iraqis.”\u009d[…]<\/p>\n

In her statement about the letter to Bush, Senator Barbara Mikulski said, “Iraqi women make up 65 percent of Iraq’s population and will play a vital role in its reconstruction. We cannot allow them to be left behind as Iraq begins to rebuild and transition to democracy.”\u009d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Since the women of Iraq make up over half of the population of the country, it probably wouldn’t be such a bad idea for them to be equally included in the process and to have the very same civil rights and liberties their male counterparts would enjoy within the new democratic government. Also new study has found that condoms may actually prevent HPV<\/a><\/strong> despite previous claims made to the contrary.<\/p>\n

At the recent meeting of the International Society for Sexually Transmitted Diseases Research in Amsterdam, a team of scientists from the University of Washington presented evidence that consistent condom use reduces young women’s risk of contracting human papillomavirus (HPV). Researchers followed 123 college-aged women for an average of 22 months, collecting electronic diaries in which women charted their sexual behavior and condom use, and testing the women for HPV every four months. The study, entitled “The Effect of Consistent Condom Use on the Risk of Genital HPV Infection Among Newly Sexually Active Young Women,”\u009d found that women who used condoms 100 percent of the time were 70 percent less likely to contract HPV than women who used condoms only 5 percent of the time, according to Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report<\/em>. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of course, even if the study is substantiated ‘across the board’ with other research institutes, that wouldn’t stop anti-sex, ultra-conservative wingnuts (especially when it comes to women having sex for *gasp* non-reproductive purposes) from spouting all kinds of misinformation and puritanical superstitions about sex–ie: abstinence-only “education”.<\/p>\n

From the ACLU<\/a><\/strong>; the Voting Rights Act is up for reauthorization as critical sections are set to expire in 2007<\/a><\/strong>. These crucial areas within the Act are Section 5<\/a><\/strong>, Section 203<\/a><\/strong>, and Sections 6 and 9.<\/a><\/strong> Let us hope that it is renewed–I certainly do because I am a person of Color, and I enjoy my right to vote.<\/p>\n

And lastly, from NARAL Pro-Choice America<\/a><\/strong>; a new television spot citing Roberts’ legal ties with violent anti-choice groups<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

NARAL Pro-Choice America, the nation’s leading advocate for personal privacy and a woman’s right to choose, launched a nationwide television ad campaign drawing attention to one of the most disturbing episodes in Supreme Court nominee John Roberts’ career “\u201c the brief he filed siding with groups like Operation Rescue and other anti-choice extremists who use bombings and other forms of intimidation against women, doctors, and nurses at women’s health clinics. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s about time. The people have the right to know what<\/em> Bush has nominated to the bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…because I’m too lazy to do some original blogging (I just got off work, I’m tired damn it). Via DED Space and originally the Daily Kos, a protestor who’s being supported by the women’s peace\/anti-war group CODE PINK, Cindy Sheehan, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-iraq","category-link-farms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769","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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1769\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}