{"id":328,"date":"2003-08-13T09:51:35","date_gmt":"2003-08-13T17:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/archives\/2003\/08\/13\/some-stuff-ampersand-has-read-lately\/"},"modified":"2003-08-13T09:51:35","modified_gmt":"2003-08-13T17:51:35","slug":"some-stuff-ampersand-has-read-lately","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=328","title":{"rendered":"Some stuff Ampersand has read lately."},"content":{"rendered":"<ul>\n<li>In a wonderful post, <a href=\"http:\/\/bodyandsoul.typepad.com\/blog\/2003\/08\/what_would_bobb.html\">Body and Soul <\/a>discusses Bobby Kennedy&#8217;s ability to emphasize and persuade, and in passing responds to a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/000757.html\">post of mine<\/a> about Dennis Kucinich. Alas, I must agree with Jeanne&#8217;s assessment of Kucinich.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.house.gov\/reform\/min\/politicsandscience\/\">Check out this impressive website<\/a> (from the staff of Representative Henry Waxman) detailing how the Bush administration &#8220;manipulates, distorts, or interferes with&#8221; scientific research that contradicts right-wing ideology. Well worth your browsing time. (Via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.prospect.org\/weblog\/archives\/2003\/08\/index.html#001341\">Tapped<\/a>).\n<li>Martha Nussbaum&#8217;s article in the current <em>Dissent<\/em>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.dissentmagazine.org\/menutest\/articles\/su03\/nussbaum.htm\">&#8220;Genocide in Gujarat,&#8221;<\/a> is a must-read. Especially useful for readers like me, as a primer on issues of Hindu Nationalism and Hindu\/Muslim conflict in India. Via <a href=\"http:\/\/bertrandrussell.blogspot.com\/2003_08_03_bertrandrussell_archive.html#106037087557156132\">Half the Sins of Mankind<\/a>, who has an interesting discussion with a reader (including criticism of the Nussbaum essay)\n<li>In the last decade, over 300 young women in a border city of Mexico (Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez, near Texas) have been murdered by a serial killer, or more likely by multiple copycat killers. Amnesty International has investigted the Mexican government&#8217;s response to the killings, and is <a href=\"http:\/\/web.amnesty.org\/library\/Index\/ENGAMR410332003\">not impressed<\/a>: &#8220;The pervasive failure of the authorities to address these cases is tantamount to tolerance of them.&#8221; <a href=\"http:\/\/web.amnesty.org\/library\/Index\/ENGAMR410272003?open&#038;of=ENG-MEX\">Read the Amnesty report here<\/a>, and a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/08\/12\/international\/americas\/12MEXI.html?ei=5040&#038;en=d4c9c7b27e284ab4&#038;ex=1061352000&#038;partner=MOREOVER&#038;pagewanted=print&#038;position=\"><em>New York Times<\/em> story here<\/a>.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/groupthinkcentral.blogspot.com\/2003_08_01_groupthinkcentral_archive.html#106038910052531313\">Groupthink Central<\/a> reports on a growing surge of masculinity &#8211; or of something people like to call &#8220;masculinity,&#8221; anyway &#8211; on the right.\n<li>Over on <a href=\"http:\/\/volokh.com\/2003_08_10_volokh_archive.html#106056040011572691\">Volokh Conspiracy<\/a>, David Bernstein has an excellent post on the Jews being &#8220;God&#8217;s chosen people.&#8221; The &#8220;chosen people&#8221; schtick isn&#8217;t a statement of Jewish superiority; it&#8217;s more a way of saying, &#8220;God is picking on us.&#8221;\n<li>Speaking of Jews, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.misterthorne.org\/NEWS\/JUL_2003.htm\">Religion in the News<\/a> points out the support of many on the right for bills that in effect make it legal for some employers to discriminate against Jews. This isn&#8217;t really news, of course, but it is ironic in light of all the recent fuss about alleged Democratic discrimination against Catholics.\n<li>An article by Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery, <a href=\"http:\/\/gush-shalom.org\/archives\/article261.html\">&#8220;The Prisoner of Ramallah,&#8221;<\/a> presents a positive portrait of Yassar Arafat &#8211; something I don&#8217;t think I&#8217;ve ever read before in my life. )Via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.israelblog.org\/1060239436\/index_html\">Aron&#8217;s Israeli Peace Weblog<\/a>.)\n<li>&#8220;Basic Income&#8221; is the proposal that every person in a country &#8211; no matter how rich or poor &#8211; should receive a basic, minimal level of income. Here&#8217;s an <a href=\"http:\/\/info.bris.ac.uk\/~plcdib\/imprints\/vanparijsinterview.html\">interview with Philippe Van Parijs<\/a>, one of the more prominant supporters of Basic Income plans.\n<li>Two absolutely wonderful, ass-kicking, keyboard-pounding hypocrit-bashing posts from Real Live Preacher about Christianity and homosexuality: one that&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.salon.com\/0001772\/2003\/02\/18.html\">just indescribable<\/a>, and one which argues that there&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.salon.com\/0001772\/thebibleandhomosexuality.html\">no scriptural basis<\/a> for homophobia. (Via <a href=\"http:\/\/www.longstoryshortpier.com\/archives\/squawkbox\/000758.html\">Long story; short pier<\/a>).\n<li>An interesting (and distressing, and depressing) <a href=\"http:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/news\/950453.asp\">MSNBC story<\/a> about violent misogyny in Muslim immigrant ghettos of France. Influenced by the worse of Muslim fundimentalism, some Muslim men have been practicing beatings and gang-rapes to &#8220;punish&#8221; women and girls. Some female immigrants are organizing, lobbying for better police protection and organizing emergency housing.\n<li>This, umn, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nirvani.net\/misc\/Formula_1_(dengdang).swf\">tribute to racing<\/a> really cracked me up. It also cracked a couple of my firends up. Does that mean it&#8217;s really funny, or just that my friends and I are immature?\n<li>Amy at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.50minutehour.net\/archive\/2003_08_01_index.htm#10606133704860394\">The Fifty Minute Hour<\/a> has a message for &#8220;men who feel proud of themselves because their gender was enlightened enough to give women the vote: IT TOOK  YOU DAMN LONG ENOUGH.&#8221;\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nathannewman.org\/log\/archives\/001044.shtml\">Nathan Newman<\/a> points out that privatizing military services has left US troops living in squalor. Praise the free market! <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2003\/08\/12\/opinion\/12KRUG.html\">Paul Krugman<\/a> in the <em>Times<\/em> makes a similar argument.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.angrybear.blogspot.com\/2003_05_11_angrybear_archive.html\">Angry Bear <\/a>does the math and finds that the &#8220;red states&#8221; &#8211; home of so much whining about federal spending &#8211; get more from Federal spending than they repay. In most &#8220;blue states,&#8221; the opposite is true.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/headheeb.blogspot.com\/2003_08_10_headheeb_archive.html#106064562017289700\">The Head Heeb<\/a> reports on an infuriating (but not too surprising) case from Botswana, in which a court ruled that there is no such thing as marital rape.\n<li>Some activists in San Francisco have hit on a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sfgate.com\/cgi-bin\/article.cgi?f=\/chronicle\/archive\/2003\/08\/06\/BA135034.DTL\">funny anti-Starbucks protest<\/a>: soaping up Starbucks windows and posting &#8220;closed&#8221; and &#8220;for lease&#8221; signs. (Via <a href=\"http:\/\/boingboing.net\/2003_08_01_archive.html#200443938\">Boing Boing<\/a>).\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/markarkleiman.blogspot.com\/2003_08_01_markarkleiman_archive.html\">Mark Kleiman<\/a> has an interesting post on prostitution and slavery. &#8220;To my mind, someone who pays for and uses the sexual services of a slave is morally &#8212; and, if I got to write the laws, would be legally &#8212; a rapist, since he has engaged in sexual relations with an unconsenting party. And in a country where sexual slavery is known to be an issue, I&#8217;d make that a crime of strict liability, as carnal knowledge of a minor is: the customer should be responsible for assuring himself that the person he&#8217;s about to have sex with has consented to it. &#8221;\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/writ.news.findlaw.com\/grossman\/20030812.html\">Joanna Grossman<\/a> points out that a recent court decision in New York &#8211; regarding which parent decides when parents can&#8217;t agree on the child&#8217;s name &#8211; pretends to use a &#8220;best interest of the child&#8221; standard, but in effect discriminates against mothers.\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/home.earthlink.net\/~prometheus_6\/archives\/2003_08_10_prometheus_6.html#106078330380004031\">Prometheus 6<\/a> is unsurprised by USA Today&#8217;s poll regarding the Bryant case, and so am I.\n<li>This story is all over the blogosphere, but for the benefit of my few readers who haven&#8217;t run into yet: <a href=\"http:\/\/ap.tbo.com\/ap\/breaking\/MGA59PHZ8JD.html\">Fox News is suing Al Franken.<\/a> Why? Because Franken uses the words &#8220;fair and balanced&#8221; in the subtitle of his new book. Nice to see that the right-wing press has such a profound committment to free speech. (Via <a href=\"http:\/\/nielsenhayden.com\/makinglight\/archives\/003248.html#003248\">Making Light<\/a>).\n<\/ul>\n<p><a style=\"text-decoration:none\" href=\"\/index.php?p=cheapest-cialis-oral-jelly-online\">.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a wonderful post, Body and Soul discusses Bobby Kennedy&#8217;s ability to emphasize and persuade, and in passing responds to a post of mine about Dennis Kucinich. Alas, I must agree with Jeanne&#8217;s assessment of Kucinich. Check out this impressive &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=328\">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":[27,50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-elections-and-politics","category-link-farms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","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=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}