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Humpday Link Dump and Gender Benders

Posted: May 16, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: just because |36 Comments

Good afternoon news junkies… so here’s the deal: I wasted several hours on facebook sharing links earlier today and then realized I had enough material for a post on here, on stuff that shouldn’t wait until Saturday.

Hope y’all enjoy, or at least appreciate. Some of these links are depressing, starting with the first one…

Mary G. was born from the boats. Her children were born from the boats too, all fathered through her liaisons with male customers. She has never known anything else. Like generations of Native girls and women before her, Mary and her family are inextricably tied to prostitution in the great port city of Duluth, Minnesota. Long before the term sex trafficking entered the public lexicon and began appearing in headlines, Native women like Mary and her mother Ruthie were lured into prostitution. Largely driven by poverty and homelessness as well as an underlying racism that sanctioned the sexual degradation of Native women, generations of them have sold themselves to survive.

Today I introduced the Gender Equality In Combat Act to order the Department of Defense to officially phase out its female combat role exclusion policy. The fact is, women are already serving and sacrificing on the front lines and I feel it’s important to change our military policy to reflect this. It will also make it easier for women to advance in our armed services.

The battle for Wall Street reform continues. Read my op-ed on BostonGlobe.com.

http://b.globe.com/KtFdz3

PARIS — Valérie Trierweiler faces an uncommon predicament.

Twice married and twice divorced, she covered French politics as a journalist for more than 20 years with no inkling that she would one day become France’s first lady, certainly not when she fell for François Hollande, a jovial, unglamorous leftist politician who hardly seemed like presidential material.

“I almost want to laugh when I think of it,” Ms. Trierweiler said in a telephone interview.

But Mr. Hollande was elected on May 6 and was sworn in on Tuesday, and now Ms. Trierweiler — whom he calls “the love of my life” — is concerned with preserving her independence while supporting her partner.

‘The US press distinguished itself in the 1970s by exposing the Pentagon Papers and Watergate. How has the media lost its way?’

  • I Love Mario Batali! Batali has taken up congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton’s Food Stamp challenge and says he’s effin’ starving! [story via DCist; h/t Occupy Washington DC on FB]. Humor me while I get on my never-far-away soapbox for a moment to say that I firmly believe nutritious food is the right of everyone–poor people are just as susceptible as anyone, if not moreso, to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, food intolerances, etc. Having to eat the same sandwich on a fast food value menu, or any other interchangeable piece of drivethru preservative and additive loaded slime, twice or thrice a day is not only deleterious to the physical body but to the mind and spirit as well, all three of which are interconnected. A 4.44/day food stamp diet is not humane. It is a recipe for malnutrition and desperation. (Also, I’m not the least bit swayed by arguments about abuse of government aid–food stamp fraud only accounts for 1% of the program’s benefits.)

    Saw this on FB… made me think of the X-Files episode title “Gender Bender”

Joyce L. Arnold has two Brilliant, Must-Read posts up at Taylor Marsh’s right now:

  1. Super-Powered and Halo’d, Obama is Still the One?
  2. If ‘This Is Not Who We Are,’ Then Who Are We, and Who Gets to Decide?

Go Read NOW!

Carlos DeLuna always said that it was another man named Carlos who committed the fatal stabbing for which he was convicted and then executed in 1989. No one believed him. The prosecutors said Carlos Hernandez, the man who he claimed was the real perpetrator, didn’t exist.

Now, more than two decades after DeLuna’s execution, Columbia University law school professor James Liebman and a team of students have uncovered evidence they say proves that Carlos DeLuna was innocent, and that Carlos Hernandez not only was real but was probably the real killer. They released their findings in a book-length monograph and website published by the Columbia Human Rights Law Review on Tuesday.

“I’m convinced that no jury could possibly have convicted Carlos DeLuna beyond a reasonable doubt on the evidence here. That’s absolutely clear,” Liebman said in a videotaped interview with the Tribune from Columbia University in New York. Liebman discussed the lengthy in-depth investigation that the team conducted, which he said revealed that Hernandez had a long history of violent crimes, that police worked too fast, that important leads were never followed and that, in the end, even DeLuna’s execution may have been botched. “Everything that could go wrong, did go wrong,” he said.

  • One last image to leave you with:

Alright Sky Dancers, this is an Open Thread. The comment section is yours!

36 Comments on “Humpday Link Dump and Gender Benders”

  1. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:36 pm

    I put this on the last thread but it’s good enough I’ll just do it again 🙂

    Straight White Male: The Lowest Difficulty Setting There Is

    I’ve been thinking of a way to explain to straight white men how life works for them, without invoking the dreaded word “privilege,” to which they react like vampires being fed a garlic tart at high noon. It’s not that the word “privilege” is incorrect, it’s that it’s not their word. When confronted with “privilege,” they fiddle with the word itself, and haul out the dictionaries and find every possible way to talk about the word but not any of the things the word signifies.

    So, the challenge: how to get across the ideas bound up in the word “privilege,” in a way that your average straight white man will get, without freaking out about it?

    Being a white guy who likes women, here’s how I would do it:

  2. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    Jonathan Chait: Romney’s Budget Fairy Tale

    Mitt Romney delivered a speech today about the budget deficit. It’s hard to wrap your arms around Romney’s argument, because it’s an amalgamation of free-floating conservative rage and anxiety, completely untethered to any facts, as agreed upon by the relevant experts.

  3. Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:40 pm

    I’ve been watching The Chew and part of me wonders if Batali isn’t doing more harm that good. He keeps emphasizing how “easy” it is for him and his family to stick to this plan. Of course it’s easy for you, you have a beautiful fully equipped kitchen with no problems in terms of food storage. The other day he was making these tacos and he was rattled off a half dozen different kinds of expensive equipment you could use if you didn’t have the exact expensive griddle or whatever he was using. And Daphne Oz mentioned that food stamps allots $31 per week per person, which she described as a reasonable budget for a family of 4 who’s not on food stamps. I appreciate that they’re trying to help, but I wish they’d do more on the additional challenges that a lot of people on food stamps would face trying to carry out these menus. I think a lot of people will take away the message that being on food stamps is easy and what’s everyone complaining about anyway. Great post!

    • Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)'s avatar Mona (aka Wonk the Vote) says:
      May 16, 2012 at 4:43 pm

      Hmm, thanks so much for your input (as I am totally disconnected from ALL television these days)… the DCist link made it sound like he’s doing the opposite?!:

      Remember when Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton took the food stamp challenge? Well, now celebrity chef Mario Batali, the Italian-American chef and talk show host, is in the middle of trying to survive on $31 a week for food, and he said last night, “I’m fucking starving.”

      The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka the food stamp program, provides about $4.44 per day ($1.48 per meal) to 46 million Americans. Batali said he, his wife and two sons were on day four of the weeklong attempt. He said he had to give up buying organic or pesticide-free or hormone-free food: “The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent.” He’s cooked things like lentils with cumin and onions for dinner.

      “Rice and beans is in my lunch every day,” Batali, who took the challenge for the Food Bank For New York City. We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens.”

      • Seriously's avatar Seriously says:
        May 16, 2012 at 4:51 pm

        Yeah, that’s totally not the message that’s been coming across on TV, but it does make me a bit more hopeful that he’ll wind it up with a more in-depth take emphasizing that it was really hard and he’s starving. The other day he said something about how it’s so doable if you just avoid restaurants and–yeah. I mean, I get that TV is more about can-do and isn’t this yummy, but it would be irresponsible to just gloss over the message.

      • Fannie's avatar Fannie says:
        May 16, 2012 at 5:10 pm

        I understand……………husband on a renal diet, I am on low fat, low carb, low sugar, and daughter in law is on a gluten free diet……………try shopping, preparing, or going on for dinner. Food stamps would kill us.

      • Beata's avatar Beata says:
        May 16, 2012 at 5:54 pm

        Yes, Fannie, for people with special dietary needs, it is very hard to make ends meet. I don’t think most people understand that. I have not been able to swallow solid food for over a decade now because of damage to my cranial nerves. Rice and beans are not an option for me. I need nutritional drinks like Ensure every day to keep my weight up. It is expensive even when I buy the store brand.

  4. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    Un-fucking-believable. Who’s gonna buy this for a doorstop?

    Coming This Summer: For $24.95, George W. Bush Will Share His ‘Strategies For Economic Growth’

    Gingerly, the 43rd president is beginning to add his voice back into the national dialogue. A month ago, he spoke publicly in favor of one of his defining domestic legacies, the tax cuts that still divide the country. Two months from now, he plans to publish a book outlining strategies for economic growth. And on Tuesday, he made a rare return to Washington to promote freedom overseas.

  5. Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)'s avatar Mona (aka Wonk the Vote) says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:48 pm

    Reblogged this on Let Them Listen.

  6. Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)'s avatar Mona (aka Wonk the Vote) says:
    May 16, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    Paralyzed woman uses thoughts to move robotic arm

    http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/16/us-paralysis-robotics-idUSBRE84F1CM20120516

  7. northwestrain's avatar northwestrain says:
    May 16, 2012 at 5:18 pm

    The growth of cults in the west — my remarks were triggered by the link at the bottom.

    Washington and Oregon have an evil spawn of church cults. These little and big churches are all over the place. I have a friend who grew up in a cult — owned & lead by her father. She walked away from that cult and is shunned by her church and most of her family. Her sister also left the cult and tried to join another church — but she was told to return to the cult she escaped. These cults can be very vicious — and they connect to each other through loose knit religious counsels on a county or state basis.

    Anyway — one woman in Oregon was dismissed from her church. So she wrote a review about that church on Google. Now the church/cult is suing her for $500,000 for the bad review.

    These creepy church/cults are tax exempt — and they are everywhere in these two states. Idaho has the LDS cult. so I guess they are covered.

    It’s been so long since I’ve been to California — so I’m not sure about the cult/church trends there. Arizona has a lot of dogmatic cults — thus the war on women being waged by the GOP in that state. Colorado has several big cults — one what has taken over the Air Force Academy.

    http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/church-sues-woman-500000-after-negative-goog

  8. RalphB's avatar RalphB says:
    May 16, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Arizona’s sputtering disaster strikes again. This woman is a horrendous excuse for a governor.

    Susie Madrak: Gov. Jan Brewer Signs New Law That Takes Debt Collectors’ Word For How Much You Owe

    What could possibly go wrong? After all, it’s not as if creditors ever make mistakes, or claim you owe them a lot more than you actually do. So it would never be abused by the legal system, right?

  9. ecocatwoman's avatar ecocatwoman says:
    May 16, 2012 at 7:07 pm

    Mona, such a great post & I’ve only gotten to the first link. I’ve shared the Indian Country piece with my female friends. Patriarchy/capitalism is about exploitation of “natural’ resources, be they oil, gas, coal or women. This story is even more painful to read since the House pulled protections for indigenous women out of VAWA.

    • Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)'s avatar Mona (aka Wonk the Vote) says:
      May 16, 2012 at 9:06 pm

      I’m really heartened to hear you passed this link on, it’s such a Debbie Downer story that I know most people don’t want to talk about for various reasons but this story deserves public and policy attention.

  10. minkoffminx's avatar JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    May 16, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    Wonderful post Mona, this has some great links…in fact I am going to read them now, just wanted to say thanks for doing this post…and Yeah, my daughter made the cheer squad!

  11. minkoffminx's avatar JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    May 16, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    So, Trayvon had only one abrasion on his hand, below the knuckle on one finger. U.S. News – Trayvon Martin killed by single gunshot fired from ‘intermediate range,’ autopsy shows

  12. minkoffminx's avatar JJ Lopez Minkoff says:
    May 16, 2012 at 8:03 pm

    Wow, another Kennedy death: Police At Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s House, His Wife Mary Dead At 52 | Radar Online

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