Monday Reads
Posted: November 7, 2011 Filed under: #Occupy and We are the 99 percent!, abortion rights, Banksters, Environment, morning reads, religious extremists, Reproductive Health, Violence against women, We are so F'd, Women's Rights | Tags: Financial Crisis, Herman Cain, Keystone Pipe Line, Occupy, Protests, sexual abuse, Sexual assault of Journalists 45 Comments
Good Morning!
It hardly seems possible that the first week of November has passed already. There seems to be a lot of unhappiness and unrest around the world right now. Ordinary people are continuing to express their discontent with their governments who ignore the rights of the many to support the wealth of the few.
Jineth Bedoya Lima is a Colombian journalist who is trying to use her own abuse as a way to end sexual assault of women’s journalists. She also wants to highlight the inaction of Colombia in pursing cases for women that have been brutalized.
As a journalist who was kidnapped, tortured, and violently gang-raped 11 years ago, when she was 26, Bedoya had finally gotten the chance she’d been waiting for, one that most women who’ve endured what she has will never get. After 11 years of her case lying motionless at Colombia’s attorney general’s office, she has the prospect of seeing some justice at the international level.
During a morning visit to Bogota’s maximum-security La Modelo prison in May 2000, as part of a newspaper investigation into alleged arms trafficking involving state officials and members of the right-wing paramilitary group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), she was grabbed, drugged, and driven hours away. Three men repeatedly raped her and left her bound in a garbage dump at the side of a road, where a taxi driver discovered her that evening.
Later Bedoya told the news media how her kidnappers had gripped her hair and told her to “pay attention” as they tortured her. “We are sending a message to the press in Colombia,” they said.
After so many years of waiting on the Colombian justice system to investigate her attack, Bedoya is in D.C. to advance her case at the Inter-American Commission. The Pan-American human rights body will take up a case when all options have been exhausted on the country level or when a country has failed to bring justice in a reasonable amount of time. Bedoya and her lawyers appear to have banked and won on the latter.
All the inaction has taken its toll. When I asked after the hearing whether the look she’s had on her face all morning is anger, Bedoya answered quickly: “No, what you see is an expression of deep pain.”
Support for Republican Herman Cain has waned since the public discovery of settlements for sexual harassment. The polls indicate a definite gender gap. Women are well aware of how prevalent sexual harassment is and they are also aware of Cain’s evolving explanations.
The poll showed the percentage of Republicans who view Cain favorably dropped 9 percentage points, to 57 percent from 66 percent a week ago.
Among all registered voters, Cain’s favorability declined 5 percentage points, to 32 percent from 37 percent.
The survey represents the first evidence that sexual harassment claims dating from Cain’s time as head of the National Restaurant Association have taken a toll on his presidential campaign.
A majority of respondents, 53 percent, believe sexual harassment allegations against Cain are true despite his denials. Republicans were less likely to believe they are true, with 39 percent thinking they are accurate.
“The most striking thing is that Herman Cain is actually seeing a fairly substantial decline in favorability ratings toward him particularly among Republicans,” said Ipsos pollster Chris Jackson.
A major story on sexual predation broke over the weekend. Two Penn State officials have been charged with covering up sexual abuse allegations against a coach.
In a development that strikes very close to Joe Paterno’s storied football program, Pennsylvania State University athletic director Tim Curley and another university official were charged Saturday with perjury related to a child sexual abuse investigation of longtime Nittany Lions assistant coach Jerry Sandusky.
The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office said Curley, 57, and Gary Schultz, 62, Penn State’s senior vice president for finance and business, also were charged with failure to report, a summary offense. The perjury count is a third-degree felony punishable by up to seven years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
The protest was organized by the Natural Resources Defence Council, a U.S. environmental group. Spokeswoman Susan Casey-Lefkowitz told CBC News many Americans are concerned with the potential environmental impact of the pipeline.
“Tarsands expansion, climate change and particularly this pipeline is a major concern for many, many Americans,” she said, “and the numbers are growing every day.
“You know, for the president, it’s about making sure he holds true to the promises he made to fight climate change,” she said. “And to the other candidates, it’s about calling them out when they act like climate change is not real, which of course it is.”
Mississippi votes tomorrow to enact or reject a radical definition of human ‘life’. Every one interested in the health of women will be watching the southern state that’s best know for being at the bottom of every list of good things in the country. Colorado has voted on a similar initiative but it was rejected by voters.
Opponents said the definition is too broad and, in addition to outlawing abortion, could have effects on in vitro fertilization and birth control methods.
Stan Flint, a consultant for Mississippians for Healthy Families — a group that opposes the measure — said the group has tried to educate voters that they can be against abortion and vote against the initiative.
“Hopefully, everyone in Mississippi will understand this is a dangerously flawed vehicle,” Flint said. “It’s an extreme government intrusion.”
Here’s a really disturbing video from Occupy Oakland of some one being shot at by a rubber bullet by riot police while filming them. Kind’ve makes you wonder about which countries are police states, doesn’t it?
Barry Ritholz continues to make certain that the causes of the financial crisis can’t be white washed by politicians seeking political donations from Wall Street. He writes on the “big lie” at WAPO.
Why are people trying to rewrite the history of the crisis? Some are simply trying to save face. Interest groups who advocate for deregulation of the finance sector would prefer that deregulation not receive any blame for the crisis.
Some stand to profit from the status quo: Banks present a systemic risk to the economy, and reducing that risk by lowering their leverage and increasing capital requirements also lowers profitability. Others are hired guns, doing the bidding of bosses on Wall Street.
They all suffer cognitive dissonance — the intellectual crisis that occurs when a failed belief system or philosophy is confronted with proof of its implausibility.
Be sure to check the list that follows this quote. He has a really good step by step explanation of how Allan Greenspan’s low interest rates led to banks looking for high profits in all the wrong places. They have no one to blame but themselves. So, why are people like Mayor Bloomberg the blaming poor home owners?
So, that will get us started this morning. What’s on your reading and blogging list?
peej
Carissa
dakinikat
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
NW Luna
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
So glad to be back after 8 days of no power.
Thanks for condensing the “need to know” features of the morning headlines.
I have so much to catch up on and I think, besides the loss of power here for such a lengthy time, that not having access to what is going on in the world was the most bothersome.
Going to take days of backtracking to get up to speed.
Pat,
I’m so glad to see you! I’ve been worried that you were still without power. I guess I was right. Did you stay with your son or at home? Thank goodness you’re OK.
bb: I want to Brimfield on Monday. They had purchased a generator following the June tornado that devastated that area though I was hesitant, falsely believing that we would be getting power back within the next 24 hours. Wrong!!
They had heat, hot water, a gas range, and were able to plug in a radio to at least keep track of some of the “progress”. They also went to work every day so when they came back my first words were “what’s going on out there?”
I managed to read 3 books since that was all there was to do until one of them came home to “stimulate” my mind. Thank God I read!
Brimfield got their power back on late Friday afternoon. My section of Spfld was out until late Saturday.
It was a complete nightmare from start to finish and the storm completely changed much of the landscape around here. I threw out 4 bags of food from the refrig and the freezer and need to replenish. My yard is covered in huge branches but no damage occurred.
Just to have heat once more is a blessing. Unreal.
Unbelievable! I lost my power for several hours, but it was only during the night, so I didn’t get too cold. There were lots of branches down around here, but we only got around 4 in. of snow. You must have gotten a lot!
We got over a foot of snow which only compounded the problem. But Brimfield is closer to Worcester and the further east you traveled, the less problems arose. Let’s face it, that area alone suffered huge tree damage in June so they were somewhat spared.
The biggest problem was that the leaves had yet to fully drop which added to the weight of the snow and ice. I’ve lived through ice storms before but this was ununsual in that the trees could not handle the weight and we have had so much rain over the past few months the ground was soaked beyond its limits. Then everything froze and the “fun” began.
My son in Reading also had a few hours of power loss and some huge branches covering the roads but it was cleared up by Tuesday.
If you can witness the damage here in Western MA it would blow your mind. But there are still many in CT waiting for power to be restored and they are predicting Wednesday for completion.
I would be stark raving mad by then!
Ditto, glad you’re back, and doing okay.
I was thinking that happened. Glad to hear you are safe and getting back to normal.
Pat, so glad to hear that your getting back to normal, what a mess.
welcome back.Pat.you have been missed. 🙂
OWS protester in Oakland filims his own shooting by police.
Ooops, sorry. I should have read the post first. I was so glad to see Pat, that’s my excuse!
Another person shot in Oakland.
Just saw on Twitter that Gloria Allred is representing a fourth woman who was sexually harrassed by Herman Cain. Press conference at 1:30 today.
good. Let’s see him deal with a face,a name,details and Gloria. More will come. His explanations have been feeble and inconsistent. Now he is attacking the press for being unfair to him. This will get more ugly.
Leave it to Gloria to insert herself into this mess. Such a mediahound!
The Kim Kardashian of the legal world.
Whatever gets Herman Cain to go back to his cave and leave the rest of us alone is fine with me.
There’s a reason for Gloria Allred after all. Good for her in this case.
Culture of Death: Who Gets to Be a Person in Mississippi.
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/patricia-j-williams
That wasn’t much of an article. She compared the “personhood” of the fertilized egg with the “non-personhood” of executed and assassinated men, with not a word about the “aquariums” which are expected to house the one-celled “people.”
It’s hard to believe that this is even on a ballot in the US in the 21st century. My biggest beef with this mindset is that once a child is born it’s: Hit the road, Jack. Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps. Liberty, baby!
The same people wailing about the protection of a zygote, are quite willing, even eager to cut nutritional programs for women and children.
I don’t know how you square that. Cognitive dissonance supreme!
Here’s the Radar story on the new Cain accuser.
Someone was bound to go public. Cain is finished.
CNN is broadcasting the 4th woman accuser’s press conference…it’s going to be on shortly.
here’s a live link from RAW story
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/11/07/watch-live-fourth-cain-accuser-comes-forward/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+%28The+Raw+Story%29
Damn, that sounds like more than harassment. Sounds like an actual assault.
That’s what I was thinking … I wonder what the statue of limitations is on that crime? She’s got two outcry witnesses too.
Illinois statute of limitations looks like 3 years depending on the facts of the case.
joshtpm Josh Marshall
Rush Limbaugh: It’s Pronounced Sharon ‘Buy-A-Lick (Slurp, Slurp)’: Some of Rush Limbaugh’s first comment http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/updates/1688
disgusting pig Limbaugh
They were in DC
In DC it seems you only have one year to file charges after an assault.
pass the butter. he is TOAST. 🙂
Joseph Stiglitz on the globalization of protest:
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/11/20111151200703378.html
Yes!
I hear ya.
Yes, yes and yes. The larger the inequality becomes between those at the royal top and those on the bottom, the less legitimacy government authority has. It’s a very dangerous game these people are playing. When it all comes down, we all go down. The ‘common good’ has been thrown overboard, risking everything for the benefit of the few. Suicidal.
Dean Baker: Why Does Robert Samuelson Have Such a Difficult Time Dealing With Reality?
Less PC answer, because Samuelson is a bought and paid for douchenozzle.
Samuelson is obsessed with killing old people.
Yep, and everyone else who is in need.
I can’t believe he makes so much money writing worthless drivel. Samuelson is another one of those journalist types that get their jobs based on who they know and not what they know or how they write.
dday: Papandreou Will Step Down in Greece
ReformedBroker Downtown Josh Brown
Get the violins out RT @BloombergTV: Wall Street bonuses may be 30 percent to 50 percent lower this year http://bloom.bg/vkGEQ4
There is a post up at MoJo that list the various bonuses. 9 Wall Street Execs Who Cashed in on the Boom—and the Bust Plus: the former Wall Street bankers that Obama picked for his team. | Mother Jones
Go to the link…greedy basturds!
And these are the sort of details that should be mainstreamed. This gang are a bunch of crooks and should be behind bars, not drinking champagne and waving to the protesters in the street.
Sickening.
Fourth woman to accuse Cain of sexual harrassment:
Greece Reaffirms Commitment To The Gyro
🙂
ROFLOL!