At Body Impolitic. Check it out!

Growing Up With A Disability presents: The Third Disability Blog Carnival!

A Blog Without A Bike presents: The 26th Carnival of Feminists!

Tiny Cat Pants
So many great posts here. See, for example, this brilliant post on objections to dieting and women’s suffering.

Newspaper Rock
This blog is focused on racism and pop culture from a Native American perspective. Although it’s not exactly a blog entry, check out the author’s brilliant essay/collection of quotes arguing that racism is systematic, not abberant.

Racialicious
Race, racism, and pop culture. This has quickly become a must-read blog for me.

Wampum: Sixteen Things The Democrats Won’t Try To Fix

Obsidian Wings: What Democrats Can Realistically Do

Fetch Me My Axe: Anger, Feminism, “The Secretaries”
This post, much of which consists of quotes from the play “The Secretaries,” is the most interesting post I’ve read all week. Check it out, please.

The F-Word: Women In Afghanistan Are As Bad Off Now As Under The Taliban

Faux Real: Class And Feminism

I firmly believe that Jill’s tongue-in-cheek ownership of the phrase “fun feminist” — a term which should be banished to the high hills along with Hirshman’s “lumpenproletariat woman” — was received so bitterly because of people’s perception of her class status and embrace of femininity. Welcome to the feminist blogosphere, where no one is allowed to process out loud without having taken a firm stand.

On The Whole: How campaigns to “prevent obesity” hurt those they purport to help

The Gimp Parade: The Disability Hierarchy

The misleading idea that ability and disability make up a binary situation leads to questions of whether or not an individual is truly impaired or disabled. At what point is one legitimately disabled? How can you tell who’s a fake? What if your condition is intermittent or varies daily? How much of a developmentally-impaired individual’s behavior is abnormal and how much is just not accepted by a narrow-minded public? Are you still disabled if your bipolarism is controlled by medication? If your prosthetic limb works so well no one would know that it’s underneath your pant leg, do you qualify or not?

Cognitive Daily: Chocolate Doesn’t Make Children Hyper

The Countess reports another election victory: An MRA-sponsored “mandatory shared parenting” ballot measure lost. Be sure to read The Countess’ op-ed explaining why these laws are bad for children and bad for society.

Reappropriate: Historic images of anti-Asian racism

The Angry Black Woman: The Price Of White Guilt
Hee hee.

Stephanie Coontz: We Shouldn’t Depends On Marriage For All Our Emotional And Social Needs

Kenji Yoshino Audio Lecture: “Covering” and Authenticity As A Civil Rights Issue
Professor Yoshino argues that the cutting-edge expression of bigotry is the pressure on minorities to “cover” whatever identifies them as not part of the majority culture. Really interesting stuff. Curtsy: Blackfeminism.org.

Punk Ass Blog: “Nothing pisses off privileged folks like a poor person spending money on something that makes her happy.”

Brownfemipower: Israeli Army Attacks Group Of Unarmed Palestinian Women

Christopher Hayes: Right-Wing Bias In Teaching Econ 101 (pdf link)

Conservatives have long critiqued academia for the ways professors use their position to indoctrinate students with left-wing ideology, but the left has largely ignored the political impact of the way people learn economics, though its influence is likely far more profound. [...] “A little economics can be a dangerous thing,” a friend working on her Ph.D in public policy at the U. of C. told me. “An intro econ course is necessarily going to be superficial. You deal with highly stylized models that are robbed of context, that take place in a world unmediated by norms and institutions. Much of the most interesting work in economics right now calls into question the Econ 101 assumptions of rationality, individualism, maximizing behavior, etc. But, of course, if you don’t go any further than Econ 101, you won’t know that the textbook models are not the way the world really works, and that there are tons of empirical studies out there that demonstrate this.”

(Curtsy: Ezra Klein).

Colours of Resistance: 25 ways to tokenize or alienate a non-white person around you.
Curtsy: Racialicious.

A Womb Of Her Own: Blackbeard Brand Rugged Tampons
I’d buy ‘em for the box alone.

Brownfemipower: White Women Speaking Out On Racism And WOC Issues

…There is a difference between speaking out as an ally and speaking “with authority” on a subject. White women will never ever know what it is like to be a woman of color. Period. But white women can and absolutly DO speak out as allies to women of color. Just peek over at some of the links on my link page, and you’ll find a whole bunch of white women speaking on all sorts of issues that are relevent and very important to women of color. But the thing is, they are not trying to speak as a woman of color or “for” women of color, they are calling white people on their shit.

My Private Casbah: Thirteen Fun Things To Do When You Have Incurable Cancer!
Curtsy: The Gimp Parade

The New Republic: Why Black Republicans Keep Losing
According to this article, the truth is that the Democrats do deliver policies that benefit Black voters, and Black voters respond to this. Just putting a Black Republican on the ticket doesn’t fool Black voters, in other words.

The Republic of T: It’s Not Nice To Fool Black Voters
More links and discussion about why the GOP keeps on losing the Black vote.

Tiny Cat Pants: Questions About Feminism and BDSM

Why are feminists so uncomfortable with talking abut non-vanilla sex practices? When we do talk about such sex practices, why do we so quickly devolve into fights about what’s acceptable and what’s not? But if we’re interested in power structures and how power dynamics work, why are we not more open to folks who think a lot about how power dynamics work?

Fatshionista: Why Having Naked Pictures Taken Of My Fat Body Didn’t Kill Me

Alternet: Gender, Globalization and Beer
Curtsy: A Womb Of Her Own

A Womb Of Her Own: Telling Boys To Pee Sitting Down Is “Meddling With God’s Work”
The hysteria over fragile masculinity subtext in this story from Norway is so blatant, I’m not even sure it can reasonably be referred to as “subtext.” (Supertext? Ultratext? Textytext?)

Ordinary Victories, by Manu Larcenet.
I just read this comic book, and it’s wonderful; unusually thoughtful yet not heavyhanded. There’s a review with some sample art here.

Racialicious: The T-Shirt Is Racist Enough, But The Ad Copy…!

Boing Boing: David Copperfield Fooled Muggers Into Thinking He Had No Wallet To Steal
What are the odds?

Glenn Greenwald: Beltway pundits are ignorant and wrong about everything

The Blog Of Lot’s Daughter.

The Republic of T: Split Me, Baby, One More Time

Britney has been legally married twice — once for 55 hours and once for just over two years — and apparently without much more forethought than one might give to choosing choosing a flavor of bubble gun. I have been all-but-legally married for over 6 years, which required a lot of forethought about how to protect our relationship.

Yet, in both of Spears’ marriages she’s enjoyed benefits and protections that my husband and I are do not, even though the depth of our commitment to one another and our family is no less than Spears’ commitment to hers. And though her first husband didn’t sign a pre-nup, while her second husband probably did, they both had rights and protections in the midst of divorce that same-sex couples do not, including custody and visitation rights. And it goes without saying that their children get all the benefits and protections of having parents who can legally marry. Ours do not.

Someone, please, tell me — explain it to me like I’m four years old (or like I’m Britney Spears) — where is the justice in all of the above?

[Crossposted at Creative Destruction. If your comments aren’t being approved here, try there.]

Lauren at Faux Real is looking for help for a new project, Help Us Help Ourselves.

This compilation of how-tos, written by you and me, aims to help people with little in the way of resources and expertise get through unfortunate situations relating to money, finances, and bureaucracy.

This is a super-cool idea. Lauren’s planning to kick things off with a HUHO carnival on November 29th, and both bloggers and non-bloggers are invited to contribute.

I was travelling last week, and I didn’t get to write about a whole lot of stuff I meant to write about. So I thought I’d put together my first link post. It’s not a link farm, because I don’t have that many links. Think of it more as a link lifestyle block, without the hard work of an actual farm link lifetyle blocks are in privileged areas (no this metahpor doesn’t work).

First of all you should just go and read brownfemipower. She has written some amazing stuff recently, and I want to quote whole posts. But I will just content myself with two snippets, from a poem in there somewhere

a thing i’ve noticed as i’ve been shifting through pictures of oaxaca and palestine is how many women bring their purses to rallies and protests. and not just a little purse they can hook over their head and forget about, but huge ass mama purses that you know the kitchen sink is in.

and every time i see a picture of some fierce mama facing down a tank or running away from bullets, clinging to her big ass purse, i want to cry. what is in that purse? did she pack extra tylenol in case somebody needed it? are their baby wipes (cuz they come in so handy, even when the kids aren’t around!)? is there a couple of extra bottles of water (in case one of the children lost their’s?)?

Also from Why feminists must stand against government repression in Mexico:

All feminists MUST pay attention to what is happening in Oaxaca. Indigenous women are leading the way to female liberation–which means that just as their demands for access to birth control carry the same weight in their actions that their demands for access to community radio do, they are also taking the brunt of the violence liberation often brings. But thier entire community recognizes that they will never have liberation (aka community health, freedom from poverty, clean air to breath, workers rights, sexual freedom, control of the land etc) as long as the nation/state has ultimate control over what happens to their bodies and souls–or as long as violence against women is acceptable in any form.

To some good news

PARIS, Nov 3, 2006 (AFP) - Unions at Paris’s main airport said Friday they plan to call for a strike over the withdrawal of security badges from scores of airport workers, mostly Muslims, denouncing it as discrimination.

This is an awesome display of solidarity from France’s airport. All credit to the workers involved, but there’s also a lot to be said for the constitutional right to strike.

While I was away Sophia from At the Bay wrote an excellent post about an article written by Anjum Rahman, a member of the Islamic Women’s Council. The article isn’t on-line so I’m quoting Sophia’s transcript:

Yet that seems to me to be a circular argument. It again relates sexual violence to women’s behaviour (ie their clothing - too much or too little) rather than men’s behaviour. It’s the same as the argument that covering up allows men to beat women without the results being visible. If that were the case, then women who dress scantily would suffer much less from domestic violence.

[...] To put hijab (covering) in the context of rape prevention is to negate its power. In reality, that is why the sheik’s comments are so destructive and harmful, and why they make me so angry. For me, hijab is a position of strength, but he turns it into a position of weakness and oppression. For me, it’s a personal statement of my relationship with God, but he makes it a statement about my relationship to man.”

BitchPhD has an excellent post about feminism, the division of labour, and a whole bunch of other things:

The second story is smaller, but bigger. In my Spanish class, there was an older woman who was returning to school. Over the course of the semester, we found things out about her: her husband was a doctor and she’d been a homemaker. He’d agreed to “let” her go to college as long as–she emphasized this–nothing changed at home. She was to continue to do all the housework and all the childcare (if memory serves, they had two school-age children) and could take classes and do homework in her spare time. I thought, of course, that this was fucking horrible, and although it was clear to me that her husband was a jerk, there was part of me that wondered why the hell she’d married him, and why she stayed married to him.

I don’t remember what prompted her outburst one afternoon, but I do remember her saying, passionately and seemingly on the verge of tears, “you young girls look at me and you all think you can have it all. You think that you won’t end up like me. But I’m telling you, you can’t have it all. Just wait. You’ll get married, and you’ll think you’re marrying someone who loves and supports and respects you, but that’s not how it works. I know you look at me and you think I’m crazy, or you feel sorry for me, but I’m telling you: look at me and realize that this is where you’ll be in twenty years.”

My Mum has said that she didn’t understand feminism until she had me (see I have magic powers). Although I have no children myself my feminist analysis is centred around reproduction, as much as it’s centred around control of women’s sexuality. I love reading personal blogs by feminist women who have children (my favourite is Raising WEG), because to me individual stories often speak really powerfully to the wider issues.

While I’m posting links I don’t think I’ve ever linked to my favourite post ever. When I first read this I said to a friend “I want to give this to everyone I know - no I want to turn it into a protective bubble around myself so that everyone who came within 50 metres had to read and understand it.” It starts with the absolutely awesome phrase “the crazy maze of eating while female” and is mostly about the problem of not replicating (and reinventing) negative attitudes towards food within supposedly feminist groups. After careful consideration I’ve decided this is my favourite paragraph:

At the very least, I think we need some new ways of approaching the issue of food in groups, so it becomes less about the fear of food and fat, less about our personal responsibility for our health, and more about encouraging women to feel strong in our ability to make food choices with integrity.

But I really do recommend you go read the whole thing.

Check it out.

Check it out at Taking Place.

The ninth Carnival Against Sexual Violence is up at Talk About It.

And.

The first Disability Blog Carnival is up at Disability Studies.

Go check ‘em out, please.

Hey, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? But y’all still remember what an open thread is for, I’m sure. Remember that self-linking is not only allowed, but encouraged.

CARNIVALS

The F Word presents: The Carnival of Feminists!

African Women’s Blog presents The First African Women’s Carnival

100 Little Dolls presents The Carnival of Feminist Science Fiction And Fantasy Fans

BlackProf.com: A Census of African-American Blogs
Not really a carnival, but it still seems worth spreading the word (or link) around. Professor Overton is asking folks to help him compile a list of blogs “in which at least 20% of the posts address issues of concern to the African-American community.”

NEW TO THE BLOGROLL

New Blog: Our Bodies Our Blog
I’m really excited about this blog, written by one of my favorite bloggers: Christine Cupaiuolo, of the late lamented Ms Magazine blog. Make it a daily read, is my advice.

New Blog: The Silence Of Our Friends
Excellent new anti-racism blog focusing on racism among progressives and lefties.

New Blog: Feminish
Well-written blog by a Euro-feminist. There’s been a really cool series lately about a kick-ass women’s march in France in 1789 (who knew?): Start here and then follow the links at the bottom of the post for more.

* * *

The Republic of T: How The Bush Administration, By Defunding The UN Population Fund While Pushing Abstinence Only, Harms Thousands Of African Girls And Women
This, more than any other calamity, is why I think the marginal difference between having a Democrat or a Republican in the White House matters a lot. Yes, they all suck, but the Republicans - with their seemingly endless willingness to sacrifice science, evidence and black women to the demands of their base - suck worse.

Abyss To Hope: Consent Is Not A Default Condition
Brilliant discussion of “consent,” bouncing off some of the recent “Alas” discussion.

Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty: Critique of the “Privilege” Lists

I just don’t have much time for analysing the world through privilege. It so often leads to individualistic non-action - to someone interupting a conversation to say “but even having this conversation is a privilege.” On an individual level I think it’s important to know where you come from, to know what you’ve been given, and to analyse how you benefit from this system. I absolutely think that everyone has a responsibility to not use the privilege, and power, society gives us - over people we know. But you can’t give up privilege as an individual - you can just fight to end it by working collectively.

Creative Destruction: Do White Men Really Benefit From Privilege?

Feministe: Yes, They Do.

Blackprof.com: Black Folks And The Same-Sex Marriage “Analogy”

Official Shrub.com: A Deeper Look At “Minority Spaces”
What is a minority space? Is it the same as a “safe space”? Are feminist blogs minority spaces? These and other questions…

A few fat-positive articles from the press:

The American obsession with weight loss is unrealistic and harmful

East Bay Express: Fat! Fit? Fabulous!
Peppy article about Health At Every Size activists.

BBC: F*** Off I’m Fat!
Article about an interesting-sounding BBC documentary “by 21-stone comedian Ricky Grover” which takes a fat-activist perspective.

* * *

Fatshadow: I’ve Been Thinking A Lot About The Intersection Of Fat And Disability

Feminist Law Professors: Misogyny Runs Amok In Unregulated Small Courts

A mother of four… went to court… seeking an order of protection against her husband, who the police said had choked her, kicked her in the stomach and threatened to kill her. The justice, Donald R. Roberts, a former state trooper with a high school diploma, not only refused, according to state officials, but later told the court clerk, “Every woman needs a good pounding every now and then.”

Body Impolitic: “Little Miss Sunshine,” Beauty Pageants, And The Sexual Exploitation Of Children

Pandagon: Right-Wing Censorship Follies!
First, a schoolteacher is fired for bringing children on a class trip to an art museum (scary nudes)! And a PBS Sprout actress is fired by the “Comcast” owned network because she appeared seven years ago in a couple of parodies of abstinence-only education. Oh, and some Fundy mom wants Harry Potter removed from school libraries because it’s too witchy. Plus, Republican Senate candidate Katherine Harris says that her opponent isn’t qualified to be in the Senate because he’s not Christian enough, which is her way of saying that only right-wingers can be real Christians.

Whosedaughter: How Anonymous Donor Conception Harms Donor Conceived Children

Moderately Insane: An Analysis Of Oregon’s Rape Law
Lawyer (and “Alas” reader) Sailorman examines Oregon’s rape law and finds that it is ridden with loopholes for rapists. See also his follow-up post, asking for suggestions for how it should be rewritten.

Bitch | Lab: How Changing Expectations For Marriage (Among Other Factors) Increased The Divorce Rate

TMP Cafe: How Democrats can win without the Southern states.

Republicans Are Hoping Sick, Hateful Appeals To Homophobia Will Save Them From The Foley Scandal
Here, here, here, here, here, and here. As Equality Loudoun, in an excellent post, writes, “we’re getting a good idea of what’s wrong with the moral compass of the anti-gay right. They don’t have one.”

The Republic Of T has many more related links. And see also this related, excellent post…

Box Turtle Bulletin: Homo-Hating Christians Distort Social Science To Claim That Gay Men Are A Danger To Boys
Beautiful example of someone doing the research to debunk the hateful right-wing lies. Curtsy: Pandagon.

Think Progress: Afghanistan Five Years Later

Reappropriate: On Frustration With Dealing With White Liberals

What’s frustrating is that this fanatic adherence to superficial tolerance is almost as close-minded as the most fervent KKK member; so desperately are these Whites afraid of being labelled a racist that even suggesting an open discussion on race terrifies and frustrates them.

Echidne: On The Amish Massacre, And On Hating Girls And Women

Effect Measure: The Amish’s Rational Response To Mass Murder

Their reaction was extraordinary and deserves the praise it receives. At the same time, though, it is a damning indictment of the rest of us, that we should see this perfectly rational act as so unusual.

Title IX Blog: There Should Be Paternity Leave For College Football Players

Molly Saves The Day: A Feminist Reading Of Disney’s The Little Mermaid

Racialicious: Color Blind Casting Benefits Non-White Actor!
It’s sort of a “man bites dog” story.

Dr. Marc Lamont Hill: The Ten Most Overrated White People

Let’s Talk Babies: Elective C-Sections Linked With Increased Infant Mortality
But at least some hospitals made more money.

Womens ENews: The Debate Over Susan B. Anthony’s Anti-Abortion Opinions

Ballastexistenz: Regarding “I’d Rather Die Than Be A _____!”

Barbara Ehrenreich: Could You Afford To Be Poor?

Boston Review: Six Ways To Reform Democracy

Reappropriate: Free Yunjim Kim!

Study Finds Daily Show As Substantive As Network News

“Interestingly, the average amounts of video and audio substance in the broadcast network news stories were not significantly different than the average amounts of visual and audio substance in The Daily Show with Jon Stewart stories about the presidential election,” Fox writes in the study. (Curtsy: Republic of T).

[Crossposted at Creative Destruction. If your comments aren’t being approved here, try there.]

Here. Full of excellent links, as always - please go check it out.

Over at I Hate People. Go! Look! Link!

I love doing these slumgullions, but with the first Disability Blog Carnival coming up at Disability Studies, Temple U. I may focus here more on non-blog slumgullionish stuff. Or maybe there will be so much disability blogging I can gather the leftovers here. We’ll see how it goes.

• Mark Boatman at Nodakwheeler had planned to escape the South Dakota nursing home he was stuck in (because of the state’s lack of funding for in-home care) last May, but it didn’t go as planned. Happily, he has recently made a successful break and is enjoying his freedom in Montana.

• In “Born that way,” Third Culture Kid(s) makes a connection between racial outsiderness and being born with a disability.

• Neonatal Doc writes about the reasons prospective parents give (or tell themselves) when they decide to abort a fetus with birth defects. The comments are long and varied, as well. Via Grand Rounds 3.1

• Suzuki unveils prototype fuel cell electric wheelchair. Um, I think it looks like a uncomfortable tinker toy, but it is interesting.

• The online poetry journal Slope presents an American Sign Language Poetry Special Edition. Be sure to watch the video of “Flying Words.” The poetry is pretty cool too.

• Lisa Ferris at A Letter to My Children tells the long and winding tale of making friends at a church when everyone seems uncomfortable with her disability:

People just wouldn’t talk to me. It is one of those things that is hard to put your finger on. Like there are a thousand little ways that people disregard you. And if you looked at each one, you may not think it is a big deal, and some individuals may have even had a very legitimate excuse that has nothing to do with you, but when you put them all together over time…you can only conclude that a large number of people really don’t have any interest in getting to know you. I asked people out for coffee and I got turned down every time. I would go up to people and talk and they would make a hasty exit. Once this woman came up and talked to me and I was fiddling around with my hearing aid from having been using the FM system. I said, “I’m sorry, my hearing aid wasn’t working and I didn’t get all that you said.” She said, “So you just let me go on talking when you couldn’t hear me?” I said I got the gist of what she said but I might have missed some things. She made a hasty exit and has never talked to me again. I have even said hi to her by name and she doesn’t even say hi back. I used to go home from church after this stuff would happen again and again and just feel like crap. Part of it was just asking myself what I was doing wrong or that was so awful? If the Unitarian Universalist can’t deal with me, who can?

• I’m eager to hear all kinds of opinions on this: “Right-wing disability” video.

• Pambazuka News covers the problems of sexual violence for disabled women in Kenya.

Crossposted at The Gimp Parade
Check there for more comments

1. Ebogjonson (via Prometheus 6) has this humorous/serious flow chart for people who want to put blackface on their blogs. It won’t fit all on your screen at one time, but if you follow the arrows you’ll figure it out.

2. Harlow’s Monkey has a follow-up to my transracial adoption post. She adds several other frames for TRA stories in mass media.

3. C.N. Le has a good post on retaining graduate students from racial and ethnic minority groups. This post sheds light on the important issue of campus and departmental climate and other issued related to retention. Often, professors have the “numerical critical mass perspective” where the entire focus is on increasing the number of students of color who enroll. Faculty members often forget that the problem is not only getting people in the door, but getting them through the program. It may surprise people to know where some of the best departments for graduating students of color are located. In 2004 Washington State University, which is located in a rural nearly all white area, was honored for it’s record by the American Sociological Association for its record in graduating students of color (I think they have fallen off in recent years, but at one point they had an amazing record.). The University of Utah is another place that seems to do well at recruiting and retaining minority faculty members; I have been particularly impressed with how many African American, Latino, and Asian sociologists are there (not all in sociology, but nevertheless at the university). One other sociology department that I think has a surprising number of African American graduate students is the University of Nebraska Lincoln, and they seem to be doing a decent job of retaining these students since at least three of the Black sociologists I have met from there are now graduates. Many departments use the excuse–”we are just not located in an area where a lot on minority students would want to be.” I’m absolutley sure that this does make a difference, but this also becomes a sort of lame excuse not to work to keep departments and Universities racially diverse.

4. Another Conflict Theorist has a great post on Barbaro and the extraordinary efforts to save him. The post is a fabulous dose of sarcasm and critical theory.

5. Feminist Allies has a good post, whose comments were highjacked by men’s rights activists, about what men can do to be perceived as non-threatening.

I’ve completely swiped these links from the sidebar at Official Shrub.com, and from Lake Desire’s list at New Game Plus.

• White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack
  This is Peggy McIntosh’s original article, which inspired the other lists. There’s a number of interesting discussions of this list on the women’s studies listserv archive.
• Able-Bodied Privilege
• Average Sized Person Privilege
• Being Poor Is…
  This one isn’t actually in the “privilege checklist” format, but I think it fits in.
• The Black Male Privileges Checklist
• Christian Privilege
• The Costs of American Privilege
  Okay, this one isn’t even a list. But as Lake Desire says, let’s shoehorn it in here so that American privilege will at least get a mention.
• Daily Effects of Straight Priviliege
• Heterosexual Privilege
• The Invisibility of Class Privilege (pdf link)
• The Male Privilege Checklist
  My own contribution to the trend; probably the most-read piece I’ve ever written (or, in this case, compiled).
• Non-Poor Privilege Checklist
• Non-Trans Privilege Checklist
• Privilege to Game
  Lake Desire’s list of how privilege, gaming and boycotts intersect
• Social Class Privilege – Beyond Ethnicity, Gender, and Religion (.pdf link)
• We Can’t Be Equal While…
  Not really a “privilege” list, but similar enough in spirit that I wanted to include it. One thing I like about this list is that it includes ways that sexism harms both sexes.

I’m hoping that the comments to this post can be used to interactively keep this post up-to-date. So if you know of a link that you think is relevant to this post, or if you notice that one of these links has died, please leave a comment.

UPDATE: Maia has a critique.

(Based on a FrontPage Magazine review of Michael Bérubé’s book.)

It’s brilliant. If you have a fast connection, go read it. (If you have a slow connection, go read it anyway, but you may want to go make a cup of coffee or something while it downloads).

• “Pimp my gimp.” Recent Doonesbury strips showing B.D.’s efforts to decorate his prosthetic leg are the latest in good crip giggles.

• Sage of Persephone’s Box has an announcement about blog color choices and the her ability to read what is offered. While we’re on the topic, I can’t remember who posted on it recently, but the CAPTCHA function for spam-proofing comments at many sites is troublesome for many of the sight-impaired. I’ve turned mine off and so far the spam on my little site is only about 2 per day.

• Dan Filler at Concurring Opinions has some legal thoughts on “Mental Illness and the Death Penalty,” followed by interesting comments.

• The Independent has an article on toxic garbage from Western nations poisoning West Africa:

All down the West Africa coast, ships registered in America and Europe unload containers filled with old computers, slops, and used medical equipment. Scrap merchants, corrupt politicians and underpaid civil servants take charge of this rubbish and, for a few dollars, will dump them off coastlines and on landfill sites.

• Another article in the same edition tells of the daily struggles of African women and how sexism and ableism work together to make life hard:

An HIV-positive woman is nearly 10 times as likely to experience violence at the hands of her partner as a woman who does not have the disease. Domestic violence causes more deaths and disability among women aged 15 to 44 worldwide than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war. In at least 20 African countries, more than half the women have also suffered female genital mutilation.

• The founder of a Swiss clinic offering assisted suicide for the terminally ill wants to widen the scope of elligible people to those who are depressed.

He claimed that such a move would help to cut the suicide rate to about 20 per cent to 25 per cent of its current level. “You could avoid the huge majority and reduce costs to the health services,” he said.

Apparently, if someone commits your suicide for you, it isn’t legally suicide. (True, btw. This also means family can cash in on insurance policytaken out on the dead person.)

• Lingual Tremors presents the impressive 23rd Carnival of Feminists on the theme of women and health care.

• A visually-impaired Atlantic City man sues the city and the “senior-transportation service” (I’m not sure why they call it that and not just paratransit like everyone else) because the driver arriving to pick him up in July, 2004, refused to let his guide dog on the bus. She was afraid of dogs.

• A respiratory disease called “popcorn lung” plagues workers in American factories where a chemical in artificial butter flavor is used on microwave popcorn.

• Some interesting Finnish blogs I can’t find a good page translator for. Anyone?

• Lene Andersen at The Seated View thinks about self-image versus objectivity and the words — like “deformity” — that can cut.

• Time magazine’s feature story, “Who pays for special ed?” begs for some disability blogging by those with more expertise than me on the squeeze between parents of disabled children and school districts feeling a desperate budget crunch.

• Larry Scott writes about the Republican plan for “Buying-out Disabled Veterans” with a lump-sum disability compensation and all the questions that brings up about eligibility for medical care through the VA.

• “The Meaning of Deafness” discusses education for deaf students and the conflicting philosophies parents of young children must chose between.

• Rochelle Gregory at Points of Praxis looks at the documentary Autism Everyday,the purpose the film is meant to serve and the disability rights critique of it.

Crossposted at The Gimp Parade

I’ve been listening a lot to the cast album of Urinetown lately, and it’s grown on me. The musical has a sly way of pretending not to understand the stupidity of its cliches, even while it earnestly makes them two steps stupider, which I just find hilarious.

Anyhow, that’s what’s on my mind right now. Please use this thread to post whatever’s on your mind, including links to your own stuff, or to someone else’s, if you’d like.

Redemption Blues presents: Carnival of the Feminists #22!

Blackfolk: Study Shows That Darker-Skinned Blacks Face Increased Discrimination
Which makes hash of the right-wing theory that deficiencies in black culture explain the race wage gap, and discrimination based on skin color has nothing to do with it.

Mothers Movement Online: Response to “Don’t Marry A Career Woman” and “Working Wives Are Unhappy” Arguments

BrownFemiPower: Being Trans, Being Poor

…So the two of us started comparing notes and really getting into the nitty gritty of what it is like to survive and negotiate the welfare and health care industrial complexes as a poor woman of color and a white trans man.

Majikthise: As ARMs Adjust Upward, More Americans Will Lose Their Homes

Many of the option ARMs taken out in 2004 and 2005 are resetting at much higher payment schedules — often to the astonishment of people who thought the low installments were fixed for at least five years. And because home prices have leveled off, borrowers can’t count on rising equity to bail them out. What’s more, steep penalties prevent them from refinancing.

Did I Miss Something: Illness Versus Impairment

Feminist Law Professors: Driving While Female

…Researchers found that sexual misconduct was the most common type of police abuse of citizens, more prevalent than thefts or beatings. That statistic was buried in the records and had to be teased out. In some cases, they found, police demands for sex had been labeled as a form of bribery.

Feministing: In Pakistan, Islamic Fundamentalist Legislators Threaten To Resign If Rape Law Is Reformed
The phrase “good riddance” is such an understatement.

Majikthise: Artist Improves Paris Hilton CDs Before Customers Buy Them
As Lindsay points out, it’s a victimless crime. Even the folks who thought they were buying a Paris Hilton CD, instead got something they can sell for many times what they paid.

Obsidian Wings: Labor Day Post (With Lots Of Graphs!)
UPDATE: Originally, this post contained a state-by-state map allegedly showing rises and falls in median income. I’ve been persuaded by Jane Galt that the map is unreliable, and so I’ve removed it from this post. Thanks to Nobody.Really, who linked to Jane’s post in comments.

Rudd Sound Bites: Peanut Allergies Are Doubling, And No One Knows Why

Shakespeare’s Sister: Critique of Article About “Involuntary Virginity” Among Women

In a rare glimpses of non-hyperbolic reason in the article, a study by two Georgia State University associate professors of sociology is cited, which found that “a big part of sexual development comes from dating as a teenager and that involuntary virginity is a combination of shyness, body-image issues and getting a late start”—a conclusion, by the by, which was drawn after interviews with “34 male and female involuntary virgins.”

Feminist Law Professors: In Most States, It’s Legal For Employers To Discriminate Against Job Candidates For Being Married Or Having Children
I’m sure the so-called “marriage movement” will get right on the case. Suuuuure they will.

Persephone’s Box: What Plato, Aristotle, Epicurus, Freud, Mill, Rand, And Hitler Have In Common

Reappropriate: Why People Of Color Hate The “What Are You” Question

Mombian: Book Review of Single By Chance, Mothers By Choice
The American family has changed and is changing; we have a choice of either adapting to a changing reality, or fruitlessly trying to mau-mau everyone back into the 1950s. This book, which sounds excellent, is definitely taking the former approach.

Big Queer Blog: Reading This Plot Summary Of An Off-Broadway Play Just Cracked Me Up

Last night I had the fortune to see “Laura’s Bush,” an Off-Off Broadway play that could not be more timely. In the midst of articles and discussions in that exciting intersection of sexuality and politics, this satyricial lesbian farce follows the story of a repressed librarian (played by Hilda Guttormsen) who discovers that Laura Bush (played by Laura Lebleu) has been blinking “Help me” in Morse code, and therefore embarks on a mission to rescue Mrs. Bush.

Feministing: New Study Shows That Elective C-Sections Have Higher Rate Of Infant Death Than Vaginal Childbirth
Maybe this news will finally break American doctors’ addiction to needless Caesarean births.

Workplace Prof Blog: Wanna Reduce The Gender Pay Gap? Get More Women In Upper Management

American women earn substantially more money and narrow the long-standing gender gap in income if other women in their workplaces reach the ranks of senior management, according to a new national study presented here. By contrast, the study found, increasing the number of women managers in junior positions makes no difference to the gender gap — women on average continue to earn about 20 percent less than men.

BeaucoupKevin(dot)com: If Stan Lee Had Written Watchmen
Not everyone is geeky enough to appreciate how brilliant this parody is. But I am.

New Moon: Katie Couric Loses 20 Pounds in 20 Seconds!
The CBS publicity department did some photo-retouching. Because the fact that women who aren’t model-thin exist is a deep dark secret that must never be given away.

Majikthise: The Case Against Nutpicking

Lately, the established media have acquired the nasty habit of nutpicking. I’m sorry to say it’s a vice they probably picked up from us bloggers. Nutpicking is when critics attempt to discredit a blogger by selectively citing the most extreme or offensive comments on that blogger’s site.

YouTube: 1970s Batgirl Was So Cool
Curtsy: Feministing.

The Angry Black Woman has a new URL. Update those blogrolls!

UK Metro: The Growing Squirrel Menace
The Metro is the only paper that’s covering this story (note the list of links to other squirrel menace stories, at the bottom of this story). But why do the squirrels hate us so?

[Crossposted at Creative Destruction, where the mottos fly like bullets. If your comments aren’t being approved here, try there.]

As usual, readers are encouraged to post links to their own stuff, or even links to other folks’ stuff, or whatever the heck else you’re thinking.

Abyss2Hope presents: The Sixth Carnival Against Sexual Violence

The 2006 Black Weblog Awards - Winners Announced!
Moziltov to Blac(k)ademic for her much-deserved win in the “Best Topical Blog” category!

Language Log’s Critique Of Leonard Sax’s Why Gender Matters
Excellent series of critiques contrasting the studies Sax cites to support his arguments, to what those studies actually say. 1) David Brooks, Cognitive Neuroscientist. 2) Are Men Emotional Children? 3) Neuroscience In The Service Of Sexual Stereotypes (critique of Louann Brizendine’s book The Female Brain), 4) Of Rats And (Wo)Men, 5) Leonard Sax On Hearing, and 6) More On Rats And Men And Women. (Curtsy: Echidne).

My Amusement Park: British Government Discriminates Against Fat Women Who Need Fertility Treatment

The News Blog: If Bob Herbert Wrote About Whites The Way He Writes About Blacks

Bitch|Lab: The USA Is Not Family-Friendly
Impressive collection of statistics comparing policies in the USA to policies in most of the rest of the world.

Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty: On Fat Girls, Obesity Studies, and Terrible Reporting

Keithboykin.com: So are you a Black Gay or a Gay Black?

I refuse to participate in your Oppression Olympics. While homophobia and racism are not the same, it is at their intersection where I am forced to live. I am a Black Gay and a Gay Black. The blood of my peoples was shed at both Selma and Stonewall.

Hit and Run: Why Higher-Nicotine Cigarettes May Be Healthier

Big Fat Blog: Diet Industry Attempts To Co-opt Fat Acceptance Language

Ultimately, the goal of fat acceptance can’t be to lose weight. That’s “fat acceptance lite”, which the diet industry would love to push now: a twisted, co-opted version of fat acceptance that still promotes weight loss in the context of “loving one’s body”, even though weight loss tends to be harmful. The truth of the matter is that if you accept yourself, you’ve already won. If you don’t buy in to the diet industry, you’ve already won.

Angry Black Woman: Stop Touching My Hair, White People!

Capitalism Bad, Tree Pretty: New Zealand Judge Goes Easy On Rapist Because “Complainant Was Clearly Flirtatious”
If you’re a feminist, and you want to know which one post to read that’ll make you feel very pissed off - I think this is the one.

Credit Slips: Bankrupcy Judge Keeps Executive Bonuses Secret To Avoid Morale Problem

Bitch|Lab: Comment on the “Porn Does Not Reduce Rape” Thread At “Alas”

Ginmar: Over and Over

It looks innocent, accidental except he does it again and again, and again. All your life you’ve been told it doesn’t mean anything, it was an accident, just let it go, why do you let it bother you?, why don’t you just move away?, while your instincts tell you something entirely different. He did that deliberately. He just copped a feel. That’s not enough, though; he wants to get away with it. Not only that, if you speak up, you’ll look bad. You’re the woman who made a fuss.

Language Log: A Medalist In The Bad Ad Placement Olympics

Lawyers Guns And Money: Sex Discrimination At The Supreme Court
You may be surprised to find out that Thomas has a good record of hiring female clerks. Scalia, on the other hand…

New York Times: Conservatives Fight To Keep The Fair Voting Principles of “Bush v Gore” From Being Applied To Any Other Cases

BlackProf.com: On The Recent Study Finding That Kids Learn Best From Same-Sex Teachers

My Amusement Park: Isn’t It Good If Teens Are Avoiding Unsafe Sex In Favor Of Oral Sex?
Plus, it seems that girls are receiving as often as they’re giving, which is certainly an improvement over years past.

Faux Real: On Watching “Paris Is Burning” In Indiana

New To The Blogroll: C.N.Le
Well-written and -researched blog by a sociology professor, mostly focusing on race and class issues.

Chatham House: Iran, Its Neighbours, And The Regional Crises (.pdf file)
I know that linking to a fifty page report by a British think tank may seem like a bit much, but it’s actually very interesting material, and reads quite well. This is, as the title says, a background report on Iran and Iran’s place in the region and in the Iraq war. Maybe there won’t be anything new there for foreign policy wonks, but for me it was enlightening. Read this and despair at what a lousy job American news organizations (and blogs) are doing at providing a background understanding. Curtsy: The Washington Note.

Blackfolks: Photographs of Some African Women
One or two of these photos may not be “worksafe,” although they’re not at all salacious.

Law and Letters: Male Bloggers In Stiletto Drag

David Lat and Libertarian Man of Mystery do no favors to women (and especially women bloggers) when they pose as women or caricature “female triviality” to suit their own ends. Even as they continue this “cheeky” style of writing with their genders and identities open, it never fails to be a nudge nudge wink wink at how salacious and saucy writing can be if done in the “female voice.”

BlackFeminism.org: Livish-blogging “Out Of Control: AIDS In Black America

Riba Rambles: Hebrew Hammer 2: The Hebrew Hammer Versus Mel Gibson
Oh, and versus Hitler, too.

White Man Arrested For Stealing Own Car; Cops Sell Car At Auction
Just kidding - of course he wasn’t white. Curtsy: Angry Black Woman .

Electoral Math: Regarding The False Charge That Progressive Blacks Ignore African Issues

Theology and Geometry: Regarding The False Charge That Feminists Ignore Women Under Islamic Fundimentalism

Theology & Geometry: Man Puns Save Men From Turning Into Women!
Good post on the emergence of “man” puns: Manbag, Manties, Manwash, and so on.

Campus Progress.org: America’s Next Top Model Is A Union-Busting Show
If you watch this show, maybe you should email the advertisers expressing your dismay.

Roger L. Simon: Homophobia At The National Review? What a shock!

Positive Liberty: Weird Optical Trick For Nearsighted People
If you make a tiny, tiny hole to look through, things through the hole are suddenly in focus. I tried this and it works for me, and I have no idea why.

Pharyngula: Gorgeous, psychedelic photo of a cephalopod

Cocktail Party Physics: Upcoming Book Announcement - Physics of the Buffyverse
Curtsy: Pharyngula.

The Economist’s View: No, Worker Insecurity Is Not A Myth

Brad Delong: Overview Of The Internet Debate Over The Causes Of Increasing Income Inequality
I think I agree with this comment from Graydon:

The kicker is what kinds of corporate organization are permitted, not tax policy. The relentless push for de-regulation and for restructuring law related to markets has converted a machine intended to secure the general prosperity into a machine to concentrate wealth. (This started around 1970, with the creation of the formal obligation for a corporation to maximize monetary returns to the exclusion of all other considerations.)

Organizational patterns and structures matter. Tax policy is not even vaguely important compared to, frex, what banks are allowed to do, and that is often both governmental and policy set by non-legislative means.

Lawyers Guns and Money: My Sock Puppet Says I’m Witty, Brilliant and Handsome
Recently fired New Republic writer Lee Siegel’s self-love via sock-puppet is, frankly, spectacular.

The Countess: The Stupidity Awards and The Bulwar-Lytton Awards
God, I love the Bulwar-Lytton Awards.

Best. Headline. Ever.: “ICE arrests 15 aliens in Roswell working for U.S. military contractor”
Via Riba and Daran.

[Crossposted at Creative Destruction, a.k.a. yet to be decided. If your comments aren’t being approved here, try there.]

1. Tiffany over at Blackfeminism.org has a review of a special on AIDS in Black America, and accompanying links.

2. Any Christians in the house? This guys has a Christian blog, and he’s talking about racism. I think it might be useful for some of my readers to go over and comment. I personally don’t agree with the premise of some of the questions, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about Christian theology or scripture to give the type of answer I would like.

3. Autobiogrpahy of a Face has a good critique of how biracial and multiracial identities can be used to further racism.

4. Dork Nation is talking cultural appropriation, comparing Quentin Tarantino and Vanilla Ice. If you want to read Gandoff Mantooth’s whole series on cultural appropriation start here, then go here second, go here third, and finally go here.

5. The Think talks about his experience as a “diversity facilitator.”

6. Prof. Marc Lamont Hill takes on the MTV’s “Yo Momma” show. Now here is a good example of the kind of cultural appropriation that is dangerous. I have seen this show, and it is troubling.

7. C.N. Le has a post about a new program that allows people to see how common their surnames are.

8. Matt_Bishop at Crooked Timber wonders if we are seeing the end of carry on luggage.

9. Lester Spence asks why we keep putting stories about Black male politicians in the style section. This is a really good comentary on how the personal lives and styles of black male politicians become the more prominent features that reporters choose to highlight. I agree. Do I really need to know how big Kwame Kilpatrick’s earring is?? I think this phenomenon also happens to black women, but in a much different way. Black men are complimented on their allegedly “hip” “cool” clothes, while black women’s sense of style is scrutinized. Are people still talking about Cynthia McKinney’s hair?

It’s the latest, the greatest, the snappest and the happest!

Anyhow, please leave your comments about anything, and your links about anything, including stuff of your own that you’d like us to see. Link-whoring Blog-shilling is encouraged!

Here’s some stuff I’ve been reading:

The 2006 Black Weblog Award Nominations!
Lots of links to check out. Curtsy: Devious Diva.

Interview with RAWA member about the present state of women in Afghanistan

According to Afghanistan’s Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) 154 self-immolation cases involving women were reported from the western zone alone and 34 from the southern and eastern parts of the country in 2005. But the actual figures are much higher. Many of these women find all doors closed behind them and can’t think of any other way but to commit sui