The American Prospect: How Fundamentalist Christian Morality Is Killing Africans

Beatrice Were contracted HIV from her husband, a common occurrence in a region where women make up the majority of new infections and marriage is a primary risk factor. For those like her, the White House’s AIDS prevention mantra — which prescribes abstinence and marital fidelity, with condoms only for “high risk” groups like prostitutes and truck drivers — is a sick joke… Organizations in Uganda are afraid to speak up about condoms or distribute them because they might lose needed [U.S.] funding.

Obsidian Wings: Yes, For The 100th Time, Athiests Can Recognize Good From Evil
Hilzoy demolishes the self-satisfied Christian argument that only people who believe in God can tell right from wrong. And when you’re done reading her post, you may also want to read these posts on Pandagon and Shakesville, too. (Update: The Shakesville link appears to be dead. Hopefully it’ll be repaired in time.)

Welcome to the 16th Erase Racism Carnival!

Angry Black Woman: Ask the Angry Black Woman!
ABW invites her readership to ask her anything about racism, and they do, in a comment thread that’s long and fascinating enough so you might want to pour yourself a cup of coffee before you sit down to read it. What’s even more impressive than the variety of questions asked is how perceptive and well-put the answers are.

Feline Formal Shorts: Race Relations 101
Not just one post but a whole series of posts, explaining the basics. The above link leads to the whole series so far, which (so far) includes “What Can I Do?,” “Let’s Start With Hair,” “Colorblindness,” and “What If I Screw Up?” This should all be required reading for well-meaning white folks who want to be anti-racist allies (uh, that is to say, me).

Loteria Chicana: Defending The Comparison Of Elvira Arellano And Rosa Parks

C.N. Le: The Downside of Diversity
The blogger, a sociology professor, discusses how progressives should react to a recent study which found that the most diverse communities in the US are also the most suspicious and least public-spirited communities. As is often the case, Audre Lourde points the way.

(And while we’re reading C.N. Le on the subject of diversity, read this post about an interesting multicultural college program that is successfully increasing graduation rates, especially among minority students.)

The North Star: It Ain’t Privilege, It’s Injustice

…and so the white Leftists who think they are down because they have got the courage to lamentably declare, “We’ve got White Privilege,” it would be more accurate and truthful to say instead, “We are beneficiaries of racism,” or “We participate in a racialized system of oppression.”

And when you’re done reading the above post, you may also want to read this related post at Black Looks.

Too Sense: Pipes Dreams
This post discusses some of the ugly anti-Arab racism revealed in the objections to a new “Arabic-language and culture school being opened in Brooklyn.” Daniel Pipes, predictably, is among the Arab-bashers.

The Unapologetic Mexican: Atlanta Politician Proposes Legal Ban On Baggy Pants
Seriously. Oy.

Eric Stoller’s Blog: TSA Says That Arabic T-Shirt Not Allowed On Planes

would not let Raed Jarrar board his flight at John F. Kennedy Airport until he agreed to cover his t-shirt, which read “We Will Not Be Silent” in English and Arabic script. According to the complaint, Harris told Jarrar that it is impermissible to wear an Arabic shirt to an airport and equated it to a “person wearing a t-shirt at a bank stating, ‘I am a robber.’ “

1 is A, 2 is B: The English Beat
Interesting discussion of a now-obscure Brit ska band, and how racial politics interacted with the skinhead and ska scene at that point in history.

Anti Racist Parent: Ten “Do”s And “Don’t”s For Transracially Adoptive Parents
You know, this may be the only really great blog post I’ve ever read that begins by praising the TV show “Different Strokes.”

Jessie The K: Disability Rights Critique Of “Colorblindness” As A Saying
I can’t believe that in all the countless times I’ve objected to the “colorblind” ideology, this take on it has never once occurred to me.

American Indians In Children’s Literature: Review of Gail Haley’s Two Bad Boys

The entire process of eliminating what makes the story sacred is what makes Haley’s version a desecration. Two Bad Boys is the cultural equivalent of retelling the Easter Story and leaving out the crucifixion. It’s that insensitive.

All About Race: “Glamour” editor “decides that natural black hair has no place in America’s” corporate offices.
More criticism of the “Glamour” editor’s comments:

* Angry Black Bitch
* Sex and Race
* Black Looks

Pandagon: Documentary On The Politics Of Hair

I am old enough to have experienced the “pleasure” of the thermal hot comb — you rested it over the gas flame of the stove to heat it up. Then the pressing oil was carefully applied to your hair and that comb sizzled through the kinks till it was bone straight, hissing as you prayed the comb didn’t touch your scalp. This is what black women did to emulate straight hair.

Ally Work: Why There Is A BET, And There Isn’t A WET

Part of the reason we don’t call our groups white is that we don’t even realize that these groups are catering to us. Part of being white means not having to think about whiteness and the opportunities it grants. In fact, even thinking about whiteness makes many of whites uncomfortable, which is why the reaction to BET is so strong.

La Tertulia: Xenoglossophobia (fear of foreign languages)
After a friend was “chided at her own son’s birth party for speaking to him in Spanish,” the blogger put out a call for similar stories. After reading this post, all I can say is: Oy, there are a lot of xenoglossophobic jerks out there.

Angry Black Woman: Preview of Interview With Novelist David Anthony Durham
Anti-racist fans of the fantasy genre will be really damn eager to read Durham’s new novel after reading this post. Anyway, I am.

ImmigrationProf Blog: Immigration Raids Will Not Be Scaled Back For 2010 Census
This is a switch from past policy, and is almost certain to lead to an undercounting of immigrants, many of whom are people of color.

BlogRhet: Race & Ethnicity: It Matters

On the other hand, I can’t shake the feeling that only white people don’t see color because well, they don’t have to. When you’re the majority and part of the race that dictates what’s “normal”, race isn’t much of an issue to you personally. That’s not to say that I’ve lived my life solely through the lens of being Hispanic (because let’s face it: in Miami, I’m in the majority and it’s white Anglos who are minorities), but I am well aware that, outside of South Florida, in person, that is what jumps out first, and that is what “marks” me, far and above anything else.

How does this translate in a medium like the Internet?

AngryBlackBitch: The Vick Investigation, Dog Fighting, And The Loss of a Teachable Moment
A Bitch, speaking as a mentor for black youth, criticizes the knee-jerk defenses of Vick that she’s seen from some civil rights workers.

Angry Black Woman: Just Say No To Relaxed Hair

At the risk of bringing on an inundation of hate mail and hate comments, I must say what I feel: Don’t Do It. Don’t relax your daughter’s hair. Please, please, please, for the love of follicles, Just Don’t Do It.

All About Race: Elvira Arellano has been Deported. Do you feel better?

…It is not right to have an entire class of people allowed in, brought in, to work without the right to stand up for proper working conditions. I know it is not right for Americans to pretend not to care about a person’s immigration status when that person is working for less than minimum wage in sometimes deplorable conditions to produce cheap food. And I don’t buy the argument that “you’re here illegally so I as a citizen can avert my eyes and turn my back when you fall prey to gangs or abusive employers.” No. I am my brother’s keeper, period.

All About Race: The Racial Reset Button
Carmen D. issues a challenge to those who want to “move on” past racial issues.

Recently, I’ve been asked both directly and in roundabout ways, “When do we get to press the racial reset button?” The people who’ve asked this question seem to feel tired of dealing with racial issues and in particular are frustrated by the level of “black anger” they encounter. […] I think it’s a fair question and one that I’ve been thinking about for some time. And I have come to the conclusion that I, too, would like to hit the “racial reset button.”

Blackprof.com: What Are The Consequences When The Powerful Are Impervious To Justice?

Kameelahwrites: Making Black Girls “Ladylike”

Based on two years’ observation at a Texas middle school, the Ohio University study found that teachers’ class-and-race-based assumptions of black femininity made them more likely to discourage behaviors and characteristics that lead to class involvement and educational success.

Marketing Whore: Some Interesting African-American Media History
Marketing Whore provides links to “A 1963 interview with Leonard Evans, founder of 1953’s the National Negro Network, titled ‘Why Do We Need a Negro Sunday Supplement?’”

Black Women In Europe: UK Study Shows Discrimination Against Asian And Black Women By Employers

Zuky: Angry Asian Gathering
A really interesting analysis of where Kai thinks anti-racism activism (particularly in the Asian-American community) should be going, using a recent panel discussion as a bouncing-off point. Here’s a sample, but Kai covers a lot of ground, so I hope you’ll click through and read the whole thing:

I think that outrage and protest occupy an important place within media activism, especially when your community is more or less shut out from most all other avenues of expression in mainstream culture, marginalized, mocked, disrespected, and misrepresented in the popular imagination. But I think that outrage and protest gain even more power when they occur within an overarching media movement that incorporates the additional elements and dimensions that I’ve mentioned. For example, it seems to me that a major reason Beau Sia’s open letter got through to O’Donnell and elicited an apology is that it was an act of positive cultural production, an act of artistry and humanism, not a narrowly-conceived ideological condemnation.

Rachel’s Tavern: Researching Race
Rachel discusses how academic methodology and academic culture effect the study of race and racism.

C.N. Le: Why American Indians Join The U.S. Military

Angry Asian Man: Racism In The Motel Industry

Interesting story in TIME on the large number of South Asian-owned hotels that have popped up along America’s historic Route 66: No-Tell Motels. Members of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association now own 37% of the U.S. hotel industry. Unfortunately, the trend has prompted a xenophobic, racist response from competitors, with AMERICAN OWNED signs popping up outside motels around the country. Let me translate that for you… what they mean to say is, “NOT IMMIGRANT OWNED” … or dare I say it, “WHITE OWNED.”

And then head over to Resist Racism and read a very similar post about covert racism in the dry cleaning industry.

Vox Ex Machina: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Mistaken For Beggar, Thrown Out Of Hotel
Vox writes, “This is why arguments like ‘Pull yourself up by your bootstraps’ are kind of counterproductive in the face of racism. Even when people have the right combination of determination, luck and ability and actually manage it, they can still get screwed by racism.”

Black Amazon: The Devil’s Curly Hair
There’s no way I can sum up this post: It’s too complex and multilayered. And there’s no way I can leave it out of this Carnival, because it’s too good and too interesting. It’s about sex, and more specifically about the intersection of race, sexuality, sexism, the pressures to be chaste and the pressures to NOT be chaste, and it’s named after a line from The Simpsons Movie. If that’s not enough to get you to go read it…

My DD: Systemic Injustice and Coalition Building

It’s true that there is simply no way the Democratic Party is likely to lose Black and Latino votes to the Republicans any time soon. Also, many good arguments have been put forward in the netroots about the inherent problems of single-issue advocacy. Yet it weakens the progressive electoral coalition if allies in minority communities feel like they’re the only ones who care about topics like these, the only ones who will talk about the rank injustice going on under the sanction of law, because they lose capacity to be able to engage on other topics. It’s also crucial to think long term about strengthening ties for the benefit of the next generations of progressives, to make sure that the racial disconnect and all its attendant resentments won’t be kicked down the line, like the bill for Bush’s tax cuts.

The above quote is just a sample; there’s some good analysis there. I also liked this, from the comments: “We go nowhere if we think the white male middle class demographic can be the core of progressive politics.”

Kimchi Mamas: Two Formative Racial Experiences, Both Involving Parents

Growing up, I tried to ignore such racially charged, derogatory comments, but on occasion I realized some people were just a product of their environment. And sometimes, I would get to know these people and eventually, befriend them. It wasn’t that I necessarily wanted them as friends. It was more selfish; I needed to know that people weren’t inherently cruel and callous and that they could change their attitude.

The North Star: Yale, Stereotypes, and Being The Long Black Biker On A Bike Tour Of Middle America

Daisy’s Dead Air: Medical Apartheid
Daisy provides an overview of some of the work of Harriet Washington, who has researched the history of medical abuse of African-Americans, from slavery to recent times. Daisy argues that this is one major reason many African-Americans “are tremendously skeptical of the medical establishment.”

Reappropriate: Yellowface In “Chuck And Larry”

(Reappropriate is offline right now, but I’m including this link anyway, since with luck it’ll come back online soon. Meanwhile, here’s a quote:)

A lesser publicized but equally weighty concern over this film, however, is its prominent use of yellowface for Rob Schneider’s (surprisingly) uncredited role as the minister who weds Chuck and Larry. […] Bearing a stereotypical mushroom cut, bucked teeth, jaundiced skin, and glasses reminscent of Mickey Rooney’s Mr. Yunioshi in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Schneider plays up the ‘r/l’ slurs and stilted “Chingrish” typically used to mock recent Asian immigrants.

Stereohyped: Great quote regarding Lindsay Lohan

Lindsay Lohan avoids felony charges, and any serious jail time, in part because the judge took into account her unstable upbringing. This makes total sense, since all the blacks and Latinos flooding our prison system had such wonderful home-lives.

Slant Truth: Please Stop Playing The “Free Speech” Card!
Because being criticized is not a violation of your free speech rights.

Egotistical Whining: Brief Comment On “Hairspray”

Too bad social progress isn’t actually made by big dance numbers. That would be a lot more fun than court cases and hashing things out with people you disagree with.

Double Consciousness: An Arab School? Must Be One of Dem Crazy Jihadi Places!

Oh hold on to your pants white folks! They’ll be jihadis running rampant in New York city and in our public schools!! Oh sweet Jesus! Imagine it! These Arab and non-Arab children actually learning about another (or their own) culture! And learning another language besides English! Another language besides English! Oh the humanity!

Paul Krugman: How Racism Could Help Rudy Giuliani Win

Sepia Mutiny: Mo’ Harold and Kumar
Okay, maybe this really isn’t one of the best posts I’ve read this month, but I just loved that movie (despite the sexism) and finding out there’ll be a sequel made me happy.

I hope I can be forgiven for linking to a couple of posts that have appeared on “Alas” in the last month.

Alas, a Blog: Whiteness = Nerdiness?

One reason whites aren’t cool, hip or trendy is that we are always in style. Cool whiteness is usually coded as the All American or Preppy style and it is epitomized by thin white people with blond hair and blue eyes. Perhaps hyperwhiteness, whatever that is, is not cool. I have heard people on occasion pejoratively say–”That’s so white.” But what is most striking to me is that in American culture there are always white celebrities and pop culture icons who get to define the trends. There are a few token blacks, Latinos, and Asians as pop culture makers, but whiteness always gets a place at the cool kids table.

Alas, A Blog: White Lies
This political cartoon by me is, I think, better than most of my cartoons.

SOME ENDNOTES FROM YOUR TIRED HOST

A word about the pictures: The paintings illustrating this Erase Racism festival are from artist Robert Shetterly’s series Americans Who Tell The Truth. Clicking on each image will bring you to a page with a larger version of the image, as well as some biographical information about the person depicted. Curtsy: All About Race.

Thanks for reading this far! I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Erase Racism Carnival, and that you may have even discovered a couple of bloggers you hadn’t previously been aware of.

Thanks to everyone who sent in submissions and suggestions; thanks to the “Erase Racism” organizers and the 15 previous hosts, who have provided me with so much reading for nearly a year and a half now; and mostly, thanks to all the bloggers who continue to write in opposition to racism.

The 17th edition of the Erase Racism Carnival will by hosted by Susan at ReadingWritingLiving.

(Edited to add: Not counting the many posts that have been lost to various causes over the years, this is post number 3,000 to appear on “Alas, a Blog.” Just thought I’d mention.)

[Bumped to the top by Amp!]

The 16th Erase Racism Carnival will be taking place here on “Alas” this month!¹

There’s no special theme required;we just want to see blog posts published since July 27th having to do with “creating a world free of racism.” Please submit links to any good posts you know of, by email, by leaving a comment with this post, or by using the submission form at the Blog Carnival “Erase Racism” page.

Deadline is August 26th, and if all goes well the carnival will be posted by the end of the day on August 27th.

1. So why am I making this announcement after I’ve quit blogging? I volunteered to do this before I quit, you see. (back)

Please feel free to use the comments for any purpose, including posting links to your own stuff or others’ stuff.

Carnivals
Abyss2hope presents Carnival Against Sexual Violence 26
This series — run solely by Marcella — is one of the best ongoing carnivals out there. She always finds tons of interesting links.

Retired Waif presents Disability Blog Carnival #18
The “We’re just like you!” edition, containing three times the average daily recommended dosage of delicious snark. :-)

The Hidden Side Of A Leaf presents Carnival of Feminists: 40th Edition
The book review edition!

* * *

Links To Stuff I’ve Read

Pandagon: Easy, Quick Action You Can Take Right Now To Help Katrina Survivors
And read this post by Sheelzebub, while you’re at it.

The Glasshouse: Why Most Moderate Pakistanis Now Dislike America

We in Pakistan also want to have liberty, freedom of speech and a rule of law. Why is it that the US Administration persists in supporting a despot who is denying us our basic rights as human beings?

It seems unlikely that Musharraf will be able to stay in power much longer; but the ill-will our support of Musharraf has created could last decades.

Abyss2Hope: Rape Victim Thrown In Jail; Pro-Life Jailer Withholds Emergency Contraception
A pregnant woman behind bars; for pro-lifers, this story must be a dream come true.

Cruella: British Courts Refuse To Prosecute Child Sex Abusers On Grounds Of “Consent”
In one case, a subsequent rape of a two-year-old would have been prevented if the court had put the rapist behind bars when it had the chance.

Black Looks: Walls Going Up All Over The World
Really excellent post; I had no idea how much of this was going on. Curtsy: Brownfemipower.

Brownfemipower: MLK, Radical Media, Media Justice, and Blogging
There’s no way I can describe this great post, so you should go read it. Koufax-nominaion for sure. Here’s a small sample:

The speech that was played was an earlier version of the “I have a Dream” speech. A crystal clear sound system lifted the deep measured voice of MLK throughout the hall. The speech was so clear, I thought for a good part of it that MLK had recorded it in a sound studio. But about half way through the speech MLK made a joke at which time, the entire congregation he was speaking to laughed in response. And it was then that I realized–the absolute clarity of his speech was due in large part to the absolute silence of his congregation. This sermon was given in the days before the March on Washington version of the Dream speech–which was when MLK flew out into the national spot light.

I could only imagine the intense feelings that must have wrapped around the congregation as this speech unfolded. The ecstasy of potential freedom, the sisterhood with the woman sitting next to you, the awe of knowing something amazing is happening right in front of you–all mixed, surely, with a healthy dose of fear.

Is Your Doctor Playing Judge?
A good — and scary — article in Self Magazine about Fundamentalist Doctors using their positions to try and deny care to pregnant women — even rape victims needing emergency contraception. If your religion prevents you from carrying out the job duties of an ER Doctor, then you shouldn’t be an ER doctor. Link via The Well Timed Period, which has an excellent post on the subject.

I See Invisible People: “Competence,” The Entitlement To Vote, and Disability

Photo: Me and Mikhaela Reid Drawing Each Other
When we started drawing, I was clean-shaven and Mikhaela wasn’t wearing glasses. Mikhaela, for those of you who don’t know, is a kick-ass political cartoonist; writing a review of her new book (which I thought was terrific) is on my “to do” list.

Taking Place: Duke Rape Case Demonstrates That Justice Isn’t Colorblind
There are plenty of cases of prosecution misconduct leading to black defendants being railroaded. So when are we going to see one of those prosecutors debarred?

Feminist Law Profs: New Study Shows Women Don’t Talk More Than Men
and
Echidne: New Study Shows Women Don’t Talk More Than Men
Both posts are good; the FLP post includes an up-to-date link list to the astounding blogging Language Log has done on this and related issues. (I really regret not thinking of nominating LL for a Koufax for best series last year.)

QuakerDave: Iraqi Baby Blogging and Darfur Baby Blogging.

Terrible Palsy: The other story from a ‘Pillow Angel’: Been there. Done that. Preferred to grow.

When [Peter] Singer wrote that, “Ashley is 9, but her mental age has never progressed beyond that of a 3-month-old. She cannot walk, talk, hold a toy or change her position in bed. Her parents are not sure she recognizes them. She is expected to have a normal lifespan, but her mental condition will never improve,” he has accepted the doctors’ eyeball assessment of Ashley without asking the obvious questions. What was their assessment based on? Has Ashley ever been offered a way of showing that she knows more than a 3-month-old baby? Only someone like me who has lain in a cot year after year hoping that someone would give her a chance can know the horror of being treated as if you were totally without conscious thought.

Rachel’s Tavern: How Not To Talk About African Relations With African Americans

Feminist Peace Network: Halliburton Sued by Women Alleging Sexual Harrassment and Rape

Jewish Circumcision: An Alternative Perspective
Good article arguing that Jews should stop performing circumcision on male infants, but also discussing the historic link between anti-circumcision movements and anti-semitism.

Prometheus 6: The He-Man Presidency (quoting Mark Dery)

The hidden costs of our overcompensatory hypermachismo are far worse than a few politicians slimed by pundits. The horror in Iraq has been protracted past the point of lunacy by George W.’s bring-it-on braggadocio, He-Ra unilateralism and damn-the-facts refusal to acknowledge mistakes — all hallmarks of a pathological masculinity that confuses diplomacy with weakness and arrogant rigidity with strength. It is founded not on a self-assured sense of what it is but on a neurotic loathing of what it secretly fears it may be: wussy. And it will go to the grave insisting on battering-ram stiffness (stay the course! don’t pull out!) as the truest mark of manhood.

Rachel’s Tavern: Teen Victim Of Racist Texas Hate Crime Commits Suicide

Kill Bigotry: History’s Hit Job On Thomas Paine
So why has Paine — who was intellectually essential to the American revolution, and in addition was genuinely anti-slavery and in favor of women’s rights — been honored so much less than some of our other “founding fathers”?

The Thinkery: Unmasculine Men Raising Boys, And Sexism In The Wall Street Journal

ZNet: Killer Lesbians Mauled By Killer Court & Media Wolfpack

The Trouble With Spikol: PETA Lectures Michale Moore For Being Fat
The odd thing is, even a fat person who has lost a lot of weight, is eating healthier, exercising more — as Moore has in fact done recently — still gets shit for being fat. Anti-fat bigots like to pretend it’s about health, but it’s really about their own sense of being morally and aesthetically superior to fat people. Curtsy: Gimp Parade.

The Joy of Autism: Attending Autreat.

Inhospitable and unsafe environments are those in which we seek to normalize and reward normal responses to tasks where the autistic response is never acknowledged, rewarded or accepted, thus valued. By never rewarding an autistic person for being autistic, we threaten their self-esteem and identity. Most will grow up being confused because every well-intentioned therapist was so “nice” to them. [Curtsy: Gimp Parade.]

Lew Rockwell: History If Iran Were America (And We Were Iran)
Curtsy: Pandagon.

May The Sanctity Of The Sink Prevail
An awesome high in the history of passive-aggressive housemates. Thanks to my housemate Bean for the tip.

Quote: Amanda Marcotte On The Miss New Jersey “Scandal”

The pageant officials are letting her keep her crown, but they’re no doubt reconsidering the advisability of having flesh and blood women compete and may be looking into using Real Dolls in the future.

Abyss2Hope: If you’re not certain you didn’t mumble “yes” on the way to passing out, then you weren’t raped.

The line of questions that defense attorneys are allowed to use against alleged victims who wake up to find someone using their body exploits unconsciousness the same way rapists do.

Washington Post: Good Critique Of Christina Hoff Sommers’ Book “The War Against Boys“

The Gimp Parade: 3 Perks To Using A Ventilator

Rudd Sound Bites: Anti-Fat Stereotypes In Children’s Books
Including a comments-section debate regarding Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter books. The Rudd people are odd; some of them seem honestly anti-sizism, but they don’t seem to realize that Rudd itself is chock full of anti-fat ideology.

Feministe: For Those Who Want Still More Discussion Of Male Circumcision

Larvatus Prodeo: How Often Do People Lie?

Hoyden About Town: School Holidays Are Part Of The Real World, Dammit!

Independent Gay Forum: Follow-Up Questions About Gays Reporters Should Ask Candidates

Or he could have asked, “But as you are no doubt aware former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman John Shalikashvili wrote a New York Times op-ed earlier this year reversing his previous anti-gay position and advocating the inclusion of openly gay and lesbian soldiers. Is your perception of the military’s needs more accurate than his?” Or he could more aggressively have asked, “To what extent is your position, like that of Gen. Peter Pace, based on a belief that homosexuality is immoral?”

Ezra Klein: The Health Of Nations Series
From a wonky perspective, Ezra’s blogging on universal health care are among the very best you’ll find in the blogosphere. Since we’ve discussed health care here recently, I thought some “Alas” readers might be interested in this series, focused on international comparisons.

The New Republic: What France Can Teach Us About Health Care

Obsidian Wings: The Majority Of American Voters Are Dangerously Out Of The Mainstream
A new poll shows that a bare majority of voters think Bush should be impeached, and that a strong majority want to see Cheney impeached. As Hilizoy says, who knew Kucinich is the mainstream?

Crooked Timber: Why Feminists Should Not Support The Basic Income
I don’t think I agree, but it’s certainly interesting enough to link to.

Republic of T: Waste Time Making A “Springfieldian” Image of Yourself!
Yes, it’s a Simpsons Movie promo.

1. River Vices, which is a blog about politics in my hometown, has a great post about the problem of letting religious zealots control government and media.  The post is called Evanjekylls, which is how many southern Ohioans say Evangelicals.
2. I get some link love, and a personal compliment from Tereza at anti-Racist Parent in an essay about predominantly white schools.
3. Also, via Racialicious, Carmen is providing a free e-book called “How To Be An Anti-Racist Parent”
4. Migra Matters on the case of Alex and Yaderlin Jimenez (a good education for people who don’t know about immigration policy, in particular the myth that marrying a US citizen is going to solve all of your problems).
5. (Saw this one on the news, and found it on a blog.)  A New Jersey High School decided to black out a yearbook photo of two male students kissing. I also though it was interesting that the two male students are black (one guy may have been a dark complexioned Latino, but he sure could pass for black in the picture), and the school appeared to be predominantly white.¹  Now before anybody says well they don’t need pictures of students provocatively kissing in the yearbook: I actually agree with that, but that would mean that they should have blacked out the other pictures of heterosexual students kissing.  The gay black couple got blacked out,² and the heterosexual white couples were muggin’ it up all over the book.
6. Reappropriate on Black/Korean tensions in the $54 million pants lawsuit. (By the way–the judge lost the case.)
7. Racists attacked Tariq’s Mosque, and the people at the Mosque need support.
8. It looks like Isiah Washington may have gotten a raw deal.  He still appears to have made the homophobic slur, but not in the context as it was originally suggested.  Keith Boykin has the details. Here and Here.

Ok, this is getting way too long, and it’s also an open thread, so feel free to add your two cents on other issues.

1. I’m noting this not because I think racism was a motivator, but because people often treat gay and lesbian people of color as invisible. (back)
2. Ironic word choice intended. (back)

My friend Pip has a blog called Great Expectations. She’s only got a couple of posts up but she’s asking some really interesting questions:

Are there white middle-class butches? If so, where are they? I found Judith/Jack Halberstam’s book, Female Masculinities, particularly disappointing in this regard. It seems that J/J identifies as butch (??). But although she shows how butch history has been ignored by middle-class feminism, she doesn’t admit that being an academic means that working-class butch history doesn’t simply belong to her. She doesn’t use this opportunity to share her own experience of butchness, and instead uses the (often extremely personal) stories of others to illustrate this story. It’s this kind of behaviour that allows white middle class men/women/butches to claim a rich history and identity, while hiding our privilege over others of the same gender (just like white women using pictures of black mothers to symbolise the fertility or spirituality of all women).

You should go and check out her blog, leave some comments and encourage her to write more.

*******

Also check out Super Babymama who has been writing an excellent series of posts on the reality of life on food stamps. As a feminist I believe the right to have (and be able to raise) a child is as important as the right not to have a child. In both New Zealand and America that right is severely curtailed. Super Babymama explains exactly how little food you’re allowed if you’re raising children by yourself.

Brownfemipower informs us that several WOC bloggers are raising money to attend this year’s Allied Media Conference (see BFP’s post for more details and links).

If you’ve got a little to spare, and if you’re a fan of some of these bloggers (as I am), here are some tip buttons that could use it. (I’m sure that even the embarrassingly small amounts I can afford to give are welcome):

Brownfemipower
Fabulosa Mujer
Hermana Resist (donations can be made via Paypal to csdistro@gmail.com )
Please Professor Black Woman
Black Amazon
The Primary Contradiction

Here’s an open thread for discussing what you’d like, including links to your own stuff if you feel like putting those up.

This is kind of an odd one, because I started it weeks ago, then got tired of working on it so ignored it for a while, and then picked it back up.

* * *

Angry Black Woman: May 18th Is The Deadline For The May Erase Racism Festival

The Gimp Parade presents: Blog Against Disabilism Day!

* * *

Taking Steps: How Cops Treat Transgendered People

She was brought in after me, stripped down to her long underwear, and as they were throwing her to the ground and removing her piercings, she tried to bring up the local statutes preventing discrimination against the transgendered, the right to self-identification, hell, the right to remain silent. As they had told me, they told her these were “TV rights,” and they knelt on her back and grabbed at her crotch and triumphantly announced that she was a he, and that he was a freak.

Not an easy post to read, but one we should all read anyway. A sure Koufax nominee.¹

Ambling Along the Aqueduct: How Political Narratives Shape How We Write Science Fiction
As well as being notable because it’s smart and interesting, this post is written by our own co-moderator Mandolin, on a group feminist sci-fi writers’ blog.

Feminista: How John Gray Taught Me To Love Andrea Dworkin’s Work

Op-Ed Pages Refuse To Publish Pro-Choice Editorial Cartoons
Thanks to Bean for the tip!

The Nation: Things We Could Do If We Rescinded Bush’s Tax Cuts For The Richest 1%

Sanders’ National Priorities Act makes his budgetary priorities crystal clear: providing primary and dental care to millions of Americans and health insurance for children; full funding for veterans health care; increasing access to affordable childcare and fully funding Head Start; lowering property taxes by federally covering 40 percent of special education costs for kids; providing 330,000 additional Pell Grants and doubling the maximum allowable amount; creating 200,000 jobs by investing in renewable energy, public transit, and high speed rail; creating 180,000 jobs by constructing, preserving, and rehabilitating at least 150,000 affordable housing rental units; reducing taxes for 10 million working families by expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit; and reducing the deficit by $30 billion.

I think this is the most spectacular (albeit grim) photo of a dead dandelion I’ve ever seen.
Curtsy: DCist.

The Debate Link: The Hate Crimes Law And Terrorism

The Gimp Parade: The Hospital Broke State Law By Performing “Ashley Treatment” Without A Court Order
See Blue’s post for the details, and also for a response from Ashley’s parents.

Blog Of The Moment: The Dumbest Argument In The History Of Argumentation
And it’s a really sexist argument, too!

Amanda Reviews Great Comics
Check out Amanda’s reviews of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Howard Cruse’s Stuck Rubber Baby.

Debitage: Why Environmentalists Aren’t Rushing To Buy Post-Global-Warming Beachfront Property
Every time I think there’s a limit on how dumb denialist arguments are, some denialist out there outdoes the previous record.

DovBear: Why We Are Better Off Today, In Handy Tabular Format

Masslibrulgirl: Signs you’ve taken too much sociology

Your Cousin Vito: What Superhero Comics Would Look Like In A Matriarchy.
Curtsy: Charles.

Feministe: Response to Garance’s Proposal To Raise The Consent Age For Participating In Porn

Ilycain: Ponies? I mean, what the fuck. Ponies?
You’ll just have to click through if you want to know what I’m talking about.

Economist’s View: Why Republicans Are Skeptical About Global Warming

Obsidian Wings: Mitt Romney Thinks Science Fiction Novel Is Reality
All in the service of dissing France. As Hilzoy points out, the weird thing is that no one at the Washington Post thought to question Romney’s beliefs that French marriages legally end after seven years.

IrrationalPoint’s Soapbox: Five Things Wrong With The “People Fake Disabilities” Cliche

Google Blogoscoped: Calculate Any Website’s He/She Ratio
The “Alas, a Blog” he/she ratio is 54%/46%. CNN’s is 77%/23%.

The Times: Children’s Activity Levels May Be Determined By Genes, Not By Phys Ed Classes
Thanks to “Alas” reader Original Lee for the tip!

* * *

I’ve been randomly dipping into the archives of The Unapologetic Mexican, and what I’ve been finding is spectacularly perceptive writing on race and on whiteness. For instance:

It is not the color of your skin or eyes that will bother me. It is the lenses you may see through. So when I speak of “Whites” and “Non-whites” in this blog, let it be a given that while I do speak of blood (”melanin-lacking race” and “melanin-laden race”) I mostly refer to the lenses that are typically found on each type of person. And if you can take those off for a minute, I think you will see what I mean.

His discussion of lenses reminds me of Sandra Bem’s book The Lenses of Gender, which was an essential book for my own developing feminist thinking way back when.

And, more recently, on the subject of internalized racism (among other things) (in a post that I’m going to try to remember to nominate for a Koufax award):

But I didn’t even let myself think in honest terms anymore. I sublimated the White Supremacist notions that my New Legal Father constantly oozed into other shapes of less-obvious thought. After ten years of his influence (as well as mainstream “universal” (White®) culture), instead of thinking facial hair brings out the Mexican in me (even tho many have said so verbatim) I just thought facial hair looks ugly on me. Because in that strain of White® thought, Mexican=Ugly. And so I avoided facial hair (especially a mustache) at all costs. Instead of thinking taking Spanish in High School will tie me more to my Mexicanness I just thought that French would be more “interesting.” (Also interesting that they were conquerors, for a while, of Mexico). Instead of thinking The sun makes me so dark I stand out as not-White™, I thought to myself as I reached into my late 20s The sun will age my skin, I should start avoiding it.

What reading that post reminded me of is American Born Chinese, a comic book by Gene Yang. Yang’s comic is one of the best treatments of struggling with internalized racism and the desire to match the “default person” I’ve ever read.

* * *

Feministing: The Effects Of High Heels

Wife Beating And Fundamentalist Islam Debated On TV
This clip collection of bits from TV talk shows in (I think) various languages is both horrifying (one male taking head pretty much advocates men raping their wives) and inspiring (the women standing up to these fundamentalist fools). Also check out this video at My Private Cashbah, about if women should appear on TV (the woman in the debate kicks serious ass).

Junk Food Science: Risk Factors And Anxiety-Mongering

Washington Post: Female Bloggers Face Sexual Threats
As Original Lee said to me in her email, “Gee, the MSM is paying attention now. Just a flash in the pan that won’t fix anything, I think.”

Sara Speaking: Thinking About Race, Cultural Consciousness, and Eating With Chopsticks

YouTube: Batman and Spiderman Discuss Spiderman 3
Who, me, geeky?

Ilyka on Spiderman 3
“Oh, how I wish I could unsee this movie.”

1. Why do I mention the “Koufax” thing, when doing so seems, frankly, a little crass and tacky? Because when it comes time to make Koufax nominations for 2007, my means of remembering the posts I liked that much is to search for uses of the word “Koufax” in my posts. (back)

I’m pretty out of the loop lately, so if you have a carnival you think I should have linked to, please leave a comment here and me (or one of the other moderators) will update the post.

With that said, I want to let y’all know that the new Carnival of Opposing Sexual Violence is out at Abyss2Hope.

Edited to Add: And check out the newest Carnival of the Feminists!

Edited to add:

There’s also the 13th Carnival of Feminist SciFi and Fanatsy.

And Blue writes:

The last Disability Blog Carnival was at Ballastexistenz.

The upcoming one is at my place, The Gimp Parade, with submissions due this coming Monday. I encourage those who identify as nondisabled to participate as well.

And as Rachel has noted, the massive second annual Blogging Against Disablism Day was May 1 and the gateway to all those posts is at Diary of a Goldfish.

Also, I just noticed the Carnival of Creative Writing deadline has been extended.

This post contains about 20 links to feminist analysis of the Supreme Court’s opinion approving a ban on so-called “Partial Birth” abortions.

Read the rest of this entry »

This month’s Erase Racism Carnival is being held at Double Consciousness. You can submit a blog post for inclusion in the carnival through the blog carnival site by the 17th or you can send a post directly to the blog owners by the 19th.

If you want more info. about the Erase Racism Carnival you can check out Ally Work. The Erase Racism Carnival is published around the 20th of every month. Given the recent growth in the number of anti-racism blogs and the current events of the past few weeks, we expect to have many posters.

Please go check it out.

BumbleBee Sweet Potato presents The 32nd Carnival of Feminism!

NEW TO THE BLOGROLL SECTION: I don’t use my blogroll for blogreading anymore; I’ve been using bloglines for over a year. As a result, some of my favorite blogs never make it to my blogroll. So some of these blogs really are new to me; others I’ve admired for ages. (If I link to you regularly but you’re not on my blogroll, please drop me a line.) Anyhow…

New to the Blogroll: Anti-Essentialist Conundrum

New to the Blogroll: Super Babymama

New to the Blogroll: My Private Casbah

New to the Blogroll: Cassandra Says

New to the Blogroll: Muttering In A Corner

New to the Blogroll: Ilyka Damen

New to the Blogroll: Moderately Insane

New to the Blogroll: Renegade Evolution

Vue Point Blog: Upcoming Documentary To Spread The Word About Po’pay

Several years ago, the Ohkay Owingeh Pueblo in New Mexico teamed up with filmmakers Derek Stokes and Catherine Angeles of Skalalitude Productions to change all that. Their upcoming feature-length documentary, Po’pay, A True American Hero, will pay tribute to the man, and perhaps even more importantly, the legacy of his victorious revolt against the Spanish in the lives of modern-day Natives seeking to maintain their languages and traditions.

“What is so inspiring about the story it is really the only time during the colonial onslaught that an Indigenous people were able to stand up and defeat that force and save their culture in the process,” explains Stokes. “It is such a wonderfully, positive story people aren’t familiar with, although they really should be. It’s because of this revolt that the culture in the Southwest is still so strong comparatively to other Native American tribes.”

The F Word: One Man’s Conversion To Feminism Story
Curtsy: I’m Not A Feminist But…

*** ONGOING INTER-BLOG DEBATE ABOUT RACE, BEING A WHITE “RACE TRAITOR,” AND FEMINISM ***
Or, as Nine Pearls aptly calls it, “The White Lady Pity Party.” There are good link round-ups at Fetch Me My Axe and Renegade Evolution, so I won’t attempt to replicate their work. But I will point out three posts that were (for me) stand-outs: Brownfemipower’s typically super-sharp and well-written analysis; the “Clue Phone” post at Cassandra Says; and this milk-shot-out-my-nose visual post at My Private Casbah.

Cool Beans: Responding To Jessica Valenti’s Discussion Of Age Conflicts In Feminism

Amazing grotesque sculptures by Kris Kuski.
To the right is a tiny, tiny detail from one of Kris Kuski’s amazing grotesque sculptures. The intricacy his work is just jaw-dropping, and there’s a quirky sense of humor lurking, too. Curtsy: Neatorama.

Thinking Girl: Regarding Feminism and False Consciousness

Fetch Me My Axe: Feminism and “the hunger for purity or innocence.”

Feministe: The Regressive Political Implications Of Fat-Bashing Conservatives

Flash Animation featuring a gigantic mouse cursor and a lot of middle-aged men in their underwear
This totally cracked me up. Curtsy: Neatorama.

Balkinization: The Feminist Justification of Roe vs The Libertarian Justification of Roe

The very expression “reproductive rights” hides an important ambiguity. Reproductive rights could refer either to women’s ability to control their reproductive lives or to the ability to choose when and how to have offspring. In the former case, reproductive rights would help secure equality with men and avoid the subordination that comes from forced motherhood. In the latter case, reproductive rights might include the right to have a child engineered to lack a particular disease or disability, or more fancifully, the right to have a child with blonde hair and blue eyes, or even a clone of one’s self. The latter account of reproductive rights may increase the personal liberties of parents without promoting the relative equality of women.

Ares Poetica: American Domestic Violence Victim Brings Her Case To International Human Rights Commission

Cassandra Says: If You Talk About Sex Work, You Have To Talk About Class
Curtsy: Being Amber Rhea

Shrub.com: Check My What? On Privilege And What We Can Do About It.
I’ve linked to this before, but Andrea’s been updating and renaming and stuff, so I thought I’d link again.

I Blame The Patriarchy: Liberal Men Using Ann Coulter As An Excuse For Transphobia
The hypocripsy of liberals who think it’s horrible that Coulter made a gay-bashing joke about John Edwards, but who nonetheless tell trans-bashing jokes about Coulter, is awe-inspiring.

The Carpetbagger Report: So Which Labels Does He Wear Proudly?

Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) got the crowd cheering early in the day. “I have been called — my kids are all aware of this — dumb, crazy man, science abuser, Holocaust denier, villain of the month, hate-filled, warmonger, Neanderthal, Genghis Khan and Attila the Hun,” he announced. “And I can just tell you that I wear some of those titles proudly.”

Beat The Press: Bush quietly proposes phasing out Medicare; Press doesn’t say “boo”

Moderately Insane: Raising Feminist Daughters, WordPlay Edition
The discussion in the comments is really interesting, too.

Feminist Allies: Do Women Pressure Men To Be Masculine?

Safe2Pee: A Directory Of Gender Neutral Public Bathrooms
What a great idea. Curtsy to Brownfemipower and to A.J. Luxton, who makes an interesting comparison to historic hobo signage.

Primatology.org: Male Chimpanzee Violence Towards Female Chimpanzees Doesn’t Tell Us About Humans

Ilyka Damen: On Being A House Bitch

…It keeps me up at night that I have no financial power in my marriage. My husband always claims that it’s OUR money. But, seriously, it isn’t. If he gets hit by a bus tomorrow, or leaves me for someone else, I have nothing to fall back on. I would lose everything if it got ugly. I wouldn’t even be able to pay my first husband the lousy $43 in child support I’m obligated to pay each month.

Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty: NZ Green Party Leader Blows Off Police Rape Case

Sepia Mutiny: All Over The World, Nations Are Building Giant Walls. Literally.

Muttering In A Corner: More Nonsense About Atheists Not Being Able To Have Morality
It’s disappointing to see this coming from Paul Campos, a writer I usually like.

Muttering In A Corner: Smart Women Like Men Who Like Smart Women, And So Forth

Box Turtle Bulletin: First US Soldier Wounded In Iraq Now Battles “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”

The Government Accountability Office found in 2004 that of the 9,488 service members who had been discharged since 1993, approximately 757 “held critical occupations”, including 322 with “skills in an important language such as Arabic, Farsi or Korean.”

The Gimp Parade: Medicaid Wants Me To Submit A Monthly Waiver Certifying My Need To Not Drown
(And see Bint’s follow up post, too.)

Not Just Your Garden…: OMG Ceiling Cat Is Watching Me Masturbate
You have to admit, it’s an intriguing title for a blog post.

Ilyka Damon: Great post about shaming, poverty, and racism.

I recall being maybe 8 years old and standing in line at the grocery store with my mother. A woman in front of us was paying for her groceries with a combination of personal check and food stamps. My mother hissed to me, “LOOK at that. She’s wearing a leather jacket and has PICTURES on her CHECKS! Maybe she could find some ways to save some money!” [Curtsy: Fetch Me My Axe]

Newspaper Rock: Dueling Stereotypes About Indians And Casinos

The Gimp Parade: Disabled Pornography

StealthBadger.net: Fisking Rush Limbaugh’s Attack On Feminism, Plus An Intro To Feminism
Curtsy: Being Amber Rhea

Masculinity And Its Discontents: Recognizing One’s Own Homophobia

Ilyka Damen: Conversation With My Husband About Men Feeling Defensive Reading Feminist Blogs
I really enjoyed the format. Maybe I’ll try writing a post in dialog sometime.

Neatorama: Giant Zipper In Polar Ice Sheet

Truly Outrageous presents: The 31st Carnival of the Feminists!

The Nineteenth Floor presents: Disability Carnival #9

Righteous Sister Speaks presents: Erase Racism Carnival #9

* * *

Brownfemipower: The Women The World Requires
“…For our communities, death is not the ultimate fuck you–living is.” A bit under a year from now, I hope someone nominates this post for a 2007 “best post” Koufax. It’s that good. And also impossible to summarize, so just go read it.

Crooked Timber: Why Are Dutch Children The Happiest, Healthiest Kids In The Industrialized World?

The Agitator: Context For The SWAT Team Shooting Of Kathryne Johnson
I hope folks are reading The Agitator. One of his most frequent topics is how SWAT teams are now commonly being used for no-knock raids on homes where there’s no reason for heavily-armed no-knock raids; as a result, more and more people are dying, in most cases shot to death by police invaders who didn’t identify themselves, and whose over-the-top tactics introduce violence into non-violent situations.

This post is a stunning — and by no means complete — list of people who have been shot to death for no acceptable reason. Except in the rare case where someone shoots a police officer in self-defense, there is never any significant punishment for the killers.

I Shame The Matriarchy: My Ex-Husband’s Porn Addiction

Geek Monthly: Interview With Joss About The “Buffy Season Eight” Comic Book Series
Page four of the interview is especially interesting for feminist readers, but the whole interview makes me excited about the comic book. There is a minor spoiler about what Dawn’s been up to, though, so skip page 2 if you’d like to avoid that. Curtsy: Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty.

Alex Blase at Dkos: Gay-Bashing Is The Reason “Forcible Sodomy” and “Rape” Are Two Different Crimes

Rad Geek: How The U.S.’s Drug War Contributes To Starvation In Afghanistan

BlackProf.com: Jim Crow Laws Were The Tyranny Of The White Minority

African American-backed majoritarian governments controlled the South after the Civil War; while in power, they enacted strong civil rights laws and created a public education system. These policies were reversed, and segregation imposed, not because African Americans were a minority, destined to lose in the majoritarian political process, but rather through elimination of democratic politics and imposition of minority rule. African Americans and their white allies were stripped of their electoral majority through fraud, violence and illegal disenfranchisement.

News Story: Hybred Cars, Blind Pedestrians, Audible Signals and Noise Pollution
The Gimp Parade links to this article, which points out that hybrid cars — because they’re so quiet — are potentially dangerous to blind pedestrians.

The Anti-Essentialist Conundrum: Rosie Demonstrates What A Real Apology Looks Like

Indianz.com: Bureau of Indian Affairs Is A “Black Hole” For Tribes Wanting Land Placed In Trust

Extremely cool photo of migrating starlings in Algeria.

Shakespeare’s Sister: Jimmy Kimmel’s Anti-Transsexual Rant
SS links to a YouTube video. In the video, interviewing Rebecca Romijn (who plays a transsexual on Ugly Betty) Kimmel jokes about how he thinks transwomen are ugly and unfeminine, and jokes about a fictional character taking an axe to a transsexual. Romijn disagrees with him and says some of the right things, but I was longing to see her get angry and chew Kimmel out, and I was disappointed.

I’m unhappy with the cliched use of the transsexual villain plot-twist on Ugly Betty, which obviously feeds on ugly anti-trans stereotypes. But despite that I still love the show, and the writers are attempting to make Romijn’s character both fully developed and sympathetic to the audience.

Never Judge A Book By It’s Cover: Democrat women are ugly! Ha ha!
For Republicans, this sort of thing passes for wit. The pettiness and stupidity of this post is made even more pathetic by the blog’s name. (The joke in this post parallels the Jimmy Kimmel anti-trans bigotry linked to above, further proof that banal minds think alike.)

Newspaper Rock: Simpsons Episode Does A Good (But Not Flawless) Job Depicting American Indians

The Blind Bookworm: Ashley X And The Journalistic Challenge Of Writing About Disability
A lot of really interesting stuff here. Curtsy: The Gimp Parade.

Deltoid: Poll Shows That Most Americans Badly Underestimate Iraqi Death Toll

Dissident Voice: Palestinian Refugee Family, Including Children, Imprisoned In Texas; Daughter May Have Been Sexually Abused With Punative Body Cavity Search
Absolutely disgusting. After reading the above article, read the follow-up article as well. (Thanks to Ms. Xeno for the tip.)

Dispatches From The Culture War: Christian Group Objects To Wal-Mart Carrying Books For Queers

A Bird’s Nest: Reading The Anti-Feminist Blogs
Check out her follow-up post, as well.

The Republic Of T: Wealth, Inheritance, and Excluding Same-Sex Couples From Marriage

My Private Casbah: Feminism Shouldn’t Be An Excuse For Anti-Trans Prejudice
Bint criticizes the decision of a Canadian women’s center to discriminate against a transwoman volunteer. Shorter Bint: None of us will truly be free until all of us are free.

International Federation of Journalists Condemns US For Unprovoked Attack On Iraqi Journalists
As ePurbus Media points out, the total lack of coverage of this story — either to confirm or to debunk it — is very disturbing.

Daily Campus: If “Rape Drugs” Are Uncommon And It’s Drunk Women Being Raped, That’s Still Rape
If you run into a login wall, you can use: Login: alas@amptoons.com Password: alasablog

Washington Blade: Proponents Of Federal Anti-Gay-Marriage Amendment Will Seek Amendment Via State Legislatures

The American Prospect: How Fundamentalist Christians Think About Gays And “Recruitment”

Last fall, while doing some reporting in northeastern Kentucky, I was talking to two local activists (registered Democrats, no less!) about why they were trying to shut down anti-bullying training at the public high school. Their gripe? By teaching that homosexuality is normal, and that students shouldn’t harass their classmates because they’re gay, the training sought to recruit students into being gay.

Daily Mail: Article About Troop Of Fat Ballerinas
As Big Fat Blog correctly points out, the article contains some annoying and needless anti-fat cliches, but the dancers are great. I always love seeing good fat dancers. (That’s a photo of one of the dancers, to the right.)

Newshog: The Case Against Iran Is Extremely Weak

Eurozine: Interesting Interview With Martha Nussbaum
The end of the interview, which includes her (mostly positive) reflections on MacKinnon and Dworkin, might be particularly interesting to feminists. Curtsy: Feminist Law Professors.