Women’s Day and Oklahoma

News and analysis…

March is dedicated as Women’s History Month, starting off with International Women’s Day, March 8, 2010. In honor of that occasion, below are some of the recent stories focusing on the status of women in Oklahoma…

Oklahoma House of Representatives | OKLAHOMA CITY (March 2, 2010) — Legislation creating a pilot program that seeks to establish reentry and diversion programs to allow nonviolent offender mothers to receive community-based services in lieu of incarceration unanimously passed the House today.

House Bill 2998, by Rep. Kris Steele, would encourage re-entry and diversion programs as opposed to jail time for nonviolent female offenders in allow them to receive rehabilitative services while maintaining contact with their children.

Oklahoma incarcerates more women than any other state in the nation. Its incarceration rate for women is 131 per 100,000 residents, almost twice the national average of 69 per 100,000.

Most women prison inmates, 68 percent, are in prison for nonviolent offenses.

“This bill will give women convicted of nonviolent crimes access to community-based rehabilitative services that have proven effective,” said Steele, R-Shawnee. “As policy-makers, we can be both tough and smart on crime. The average prison stay for nonviolent women is less than a year, but the impact on their children is lifelong and devastating. In-home rehabilitative services will keep these families together and allow Oklahoma women to receive the help they desperately need.”

The bill passed the House with a vote of 92-0 and will next be considered by the Senate.

Henry G. Bennett Memorial Library | The month of March is Women’s History Month. Between the years of 1907 and 2008 only 77 women have been elected to the Oklahoma Legislature. As of February 2009, 46 of these remarkable women have shared their stories as part of the Women of the Oklahoma Legislature Oral History Project.

Since 2006, Associate Professor/Oral History Librarian Tanya Finchum of Oklahoma State University embarked on a project to capture and record information about women who have served or are currently serving in the Oklahoma Legislature. Within the Oklahoma State University Library website, a website was launched in February 2009. The website is a culmination of her work and includes transcripts, audio excerpts, and memorabilia collected as a result of interview efforts. The web address is http://www.library.okstate.edu/oralhistory/wotol/.

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence | Domestic Violence in Oklahoma:

Oklahoma Law enforcement agencies answer an average of 15, 000 domestic violence calls each year….

Oklahoma currently ranks 10th nationally for the number of women murdered by males. Among cases where the relationship between the victim and offender was known, 91% of perpetrators were known by the victim.

According to a study conducted by the National Clearinghouse for the Defense of  Battered Women, nearly 3/4 of women incarcerated in Oklahoman state prisons reported being physically abused at some point in their lifetime.

Nearly 20 percent of Oklahoma high school students have reported being hit, slapped, or physically hurt by their boyfriend or girlfriend; this is compared to the 9 percent of all students nation wide.

The rate of dating violence for Oklahoma ninth graders is more than three times the national average, at the rate of 26 percent for Oklahoma freshmen, compared to 8 percent nationwide.

New OK | Budget problems have caused cutbacks statewide in services to women who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault, officials say.

“It hurts my heart,” said Marcia Smith, executive director of the state Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault. “Demand for help is up, but budget problems are forcing some services to go away.”

About 29 state-supported programs offer help to domestic violence and sexual assault victims, Smith said. All of them have experienced a 10 percent cut in funds for the past two months, on top of 5 percent funding cuts every month since July.

“It’s too much for them to absorb,” Smith said.

Huffington Post | Anti-choice legislators in Oklahoma are experts on at least two things: waste and distraction. After repeatedly introducing laws – and having them overturned by the courts for being unconsitutional – that do nothing more than force government intrusion into the professional lives of physicians and the personal lives of women seeking reproductive health care, they continue to waste taxpayer time and money by ignoring constitutional rules.

Yesterday, a bill that may be unconstitutional sailed through the OK House and is on its way to the Senate. It would force physicians performing abortions to narrate an ultrasound description to the pregnant woman on whom the ultrasound is being performed. This was one week after an Oklahoma district court ruled unconstitutional a 2009 law that created a public web site where doctors would be forced to publish personal information on women who have had abortions (including their names and the reason for their abortions). And now the Oklahoma Supreme Court confirmed the ruling of a lower court that mandatory viewing of ultrasounds is unconstitutional putting to rest a 2008 law that would have forced women to view the ultrasound of their pregnancy prior to receiving an abortion…

Astoundingly, the bill passed the OK House without a question or a discussion, despite this history of wasting taxpayer time and money by passing unconstitutional laws and then having them overturned.

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Senators: Lift Ban on Gays Donating Blood  |  365 Gay News

The senators said that while hospitals and emergency rooms are in urgent need of blood products, “healthy blood donors are turned away every day due to an antiquated policy and our blood supply is not necessarily any safer for it.”

Brian Moulton, chief legislative counsel for the Human Rights Campaign,the nation’s largest gay rights group, said they are hopeful that the policy, last reviewed in 2006, will change under President Barack Obama, “who is interested in looking at all the policies that have a discriminatory effect.” The goal, he said, is “to have policies in place that are based on the science” rather than “any discriminatory idea about our community.”

One in three killed by US drone strikes is a civilian  |  The Raw Story

The US military has used drones to attack suspected terrorists in Pakistan since at least 2004. Proponents of the small, unmanned planes say they are capable of “surgical strikes” that reduce civilian casualties and effectively combat terrorism.

Is that true? Well, not really, according to a new report from the New America Foundation, a non-profit research institute.

The percentage of civilians killed by drones in Pakistan is at about 32 percent, or one out of three, the report states, and the strikes themselves have little effect in deterring terrorist activities in either Pakistan or Afghanistan. Researchers do not believe any of the reported strikes targeted Osama bin Laden.

Ford’s First EV Isn’t Sexy, But It’s Smart  |  Wired

Ford’s first mass-market electric vehicle isn’t a sexy sports car. It isn’t a sleek sedan. And it isn’t cool compact. It’s a van. A delivery van, to be exact, designed specifically for fleet use. It isn’t the sexiest way to break into the electric arena, but it’s a smart move for Ford and a logical place for EVs.

Ford rolled into San Francisco with one of the Transit Connect Electric vans that goes on sale at the end of the year. It isn’t much to look at — a big box on wheels with a definite European flair — but it offers 80 miles of range and charges in as little as six hours. Ford is offering it only its big fleet customers for now but opens the order book next year for anyone who wants one.

A Ringing Critique.

News and analysis…

Now that the glamor of the 2010 Olympics is over it is interesting to observe the various social questions left in its wake. Some issues which were shelved to make room for international harmony and sportsmanship include gender identity, sexism, racism, homelessness, indigenous rights, etc. Here are some such stories which have been largely overlooked in the rush to count medals and support national pride…

Global Comment |Taraneh Ghajar Jerven’s recent article in the Christian Science Monitor, “2010 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony: What about Vancouver’s homeless?” highlights the injustices perpetrated in the run-up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.(1) Jerven discusses the expensive development costs associated with the 2010 Olympic Games, where the original budget of $660 million was revised to over $5 billion.(2)

The astronomical increase in costs for the Vancouver Olympics is especially egregious when considering that the city’s homeless population has doubled since 2003 – the same year that the city secured its Olympic bid. This rise in homelessness leaves one wondering: how can an international event that claims to celebrate peace, unity and global harmony so callously ignore the needs of the most vulnerable populations? What kind of priorities is the international community embracing in such an outright rejection of the human right to housing?

Violations of the human right to housing are not specific to the 2010 Vancouver Games, and are unfortunately indicative of a growing trend in these types of mega-sporting events. One key example is the 2008 Beijing Olympics, where violations of the human right to housing displaced approximately 1.5 million residents. This trend can be followed to other host cities, such as Seoul, where 720,000 people were displaced to make way for the 1988 Olympic Games. Additionally here in the United States, in the run-up to the 1996 Atlanta Games, 30,000 people were displaced and 2,000 units of public housing were destroyed.(3)

Womanist Musings | In an interview with Salon, three time world medal champion Elvis Stojko, made clear that the greatest danger to figure skating is the feminization of male skaters.

It basically started about one year ago, when Skate Canada said that they weren’t getting enough young boys enrolling in skating. People tiptoe around the topic, and I was like, “You know, I’m just going to say it: Effeminate men’s skating is not my style of skating. In men’s skating I like to see power and strength.”

Effeminate men’s skating is the issue with male figure skating. WOW…Of course Elvis believes that it is only right for people to get upset if they are called gay.

“Some guys get into the sport because it’s difficult — the spins, the speed — and they like to showcase that within the music. When you’re not appreciated for that, it takes its toll. And then when people call them effeminate, they get pissed. People call them gay, and some people don’t like to be called that.”

If you want to open up figure skating to another audience, you need to create something that’s going to allow everyone to watch. If you have a male masculine person watching it, they need something to relate to. Other guys relate to Johnny Weir’s thing. You need to have guys doing jumps, so a person who also watches NASCAR can identify with it and say, “Hey that’s awesome — how many rotations is that?” or “How fast did he spin?” instead of, “How pretty was that guy?”

Being called gay can only be a bad thing if you have a problem with homosexuality to begin with. Why should it be considered threatening to anyone’s masculinity? He makes it sound as though gay men are destroying the sport by not being suitably butch. Don’t even bother to get upset about his commentary because gay people need to just accept their second class status, according to Elvis.

Global Comment | Native leaders like Fontaine have been very vocal about the opportunities that the Olympics offers First Nations citizens. However, there are many within the aboriginal community that raise the concern that the Olympics amount to further exploitation of Native peoples.

“The Four Host Nations is a corporate body made up primarily of government-funded Indian Act band council chiefs, not hereditary chieftainships,” says Seislom, a Lil’wat Elder. “An overwhelming number of Indigenous people in these territories and in the interior are opposed to the Olympics because of the long-term impact including destruction of the land, commodification of Native art and culture, and the creation of long-term poverty once the few token jobs are gone.”

According to the Olympic resistance network, during the Olympic Torch relay, protesters in over thirty cities, towns, and Indigenous communities successfully disrupted the Torch Relay, forcing delays and route cancellations, with at least thirteen arrests. Much of the Canadian coverage regarding the protests does not seek to discuss why the protesters are attempting to disrupt the games. The protesters are seen as rabble rousers who are destroying our chance to showcase Canadian wonders.

Even as the torch was carried along the Highway of Tears (a stretch of highway 12 between Prince George and Prince Rupert, B.C., where numerous women who are largely Indigenous have gone missing) many Canadians are unaware of their government’s failure to bring a halt to the violence. It is unimaginable that disappearances of White women would have been met with such apathy.

Leader-Post |The IOC held a symposium in Miami in January to “attempt to identify the most up-to-date medical/biological science with regard to the gender issue that may be of relevance to sport and that will help sports bodies to deal with potential cases.”

“Gender issue” can mean just about anything, which is why the IOC uses the phrase. Scientists at the Florida International University met with the IOC and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in conjunction with the 2nd World Conference on Hormonal and Genetic Basis of Sexual Differentiation Disorders. The IOC is most worried about a condition referred to as “Disorders of Sexual Development.”

In the eyes of the IOC, and obviously those in the medical world who dream up names for conditions that place people outside conventional sexuality, not being biologically absolutely a man or absolutely a woman is seen as a disorder. IOC officials say their concern is about fairness, as women who have one of the DSDs (once called intersexed, which makes more sense) may have a biological advantage over women who don’t have DSD characteristics.

This is indeed a murky area as all athletes at the Olympic level have genetic advantages of different kinds. All Olympic athletes train very hard, and are committed to their dream, whatever that may be, but to make a national team certain “gifts” have to be in place biologically. Endurance athletes will go nowhere without very high “MaxVO2s” and anaerobic thresholds. You can increase both through training to some extent, but if you are not born with the genetic information that allows your body to deliver great amounts of oxygen per kilogram of weight and then allows your body to “work” for long periods of time at a level that is not far below your maximum heartrate, you aren’t going to the Olympics in the endurance events. The only sprinters who make it to the 100-metre final have a different profile, but they too need to be genetically gifted as do gymnasts, as do tennis players, and so on.

In this highly gendered world one person’s genetic gift is another person’s disorder. Where is the line in the sand for what an athlete brings to the startline courtesy of Mother Nature? The IOC does not recommend to Kenyan long-distance runners or Norwegian cross-country skiers that they get an operation to reduce their super-high MaxVO2s because they have an unfair advantage, but this is what they tell intersexed or DSD athletes to do about their sexuality.

Mother Jones | There are two reasons why Alissa Johnson, a 22-year-old Park City, Utah, native, knows she should be in Vancouver today. First, to support her brother Anders, who is ski jumping for the US Olympic team. And second, to strap on her 8-foot-long skis and compete herself. She’s one of the US’s top five female ski jumpers. If there were a women’s team, she’d be on it.

But there isn’t. So, because ski jumping is the last remaining sport of the Olympics that bars women from competing, Johnson is going as a sister and a friend. And that’s it.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says the women’s exclusion isn’t discrimination. President Jacques Rogge has insisted that the decision “was made strictly on a technical basis, and absolutely not on gender grounds.” But female would-be Olympic competitors say they don’t understand what that “technical basis” is. Their abilities? They point to American Lindsey Van, who holds the world record for the single longest jump by anyone, male or female. (Ironically, she broke the record flying from a jump built at Whistler for the Vancouver Olympics). Their numbers? When the IOC voted in 2006 not to add women’s ski jumping, 83 competitors from 14 nations jumped at the top level, less universality than required to add a new event. But in the same year, women’s skier cross claimed just 30 skiers from 11 nations. The committee added it. (There are also too few male ski jumpers to qualify, but as one of the original 16 Winter Olympic events, their event isn’t subjected to the same rules.)

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Iraq Holds Early Voting Amid Blasts  |  Aljazeera English

Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, reporting from Baghdad, said the vote is seen as a pivotal moment in Iraq as the US prepares to withdraw large numbers of troops by 2011.

“This is a very significant vote; it is the closest to a truly representative process since the US-led invasion [in 2003],” he said.

More than 6,000 candidates will be competing for 325 seats in the election.

Travel around the country has been restricted and the authorities have cancelled all leave for security services.

The election winners will oversee the withdrawal of US forces from the country and help determine whether Iraq will be able to move past the deep Sunni-Shia divisions that almost destroyed it.

Five years ago, Iraq’s Sunni Arabs boycotted the legislative election,allowing Shia and Kurdish parties to take control of parliament, but Sunnis are now expected to take part in large numbers.

Lesbians in South Africa Being Raped to ‘Cure’ Them of Sexual Orientation  |  Alternet

The group ActionAid released a report about the shocking rise in homophobic attacks and murders in South Africa, especially Johannesburg and Cape Town where lesbian women are being raped as a “corrective” punishment for being gay.

They report:

Rape is fast becoming the most widespread hate crime targeted against gay women in townships across South Africa. One lesbian and gay support group says it is dealing with 10 new cases of lesbian women being targeted for ‘corrective’ rape every week in Cape Town alone.

‘Terrifying’ Saudi Novel Wins Arabic Booker  |  CNN

Saudi novelist Abdo Khal, who won the Arabic Booker prize for his novel depicting the ravaging effects of unlimited wealth, says he writes about the “double standards in our life.”

Khal won the prestigious $60,000 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for his novel, “Spewing Sparks as Big as Castles.”

The book, whose title is a Koranic reference to hell, chronicles the seductive powers of an ultra-wealthy palace, telling “the agonising story of those who have become enslaved by it, drawn by its promise of glamour,” said the organizers of the prize.

Iran Document: Women Activists Write Mousavi & Karroubi  |  Enduring America

A letter from Iran’s women activists to Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, written last week, published by Rah-e-Sabz, and passed on by Mission Free Iran:

As you know, during the 10th presidential campaign, you made promises about the obvious rights of Iranian women, which, during the course of the past 30 years have been totally ignored. Although these promises comprise only a small part of Iranian women’s just demands, during the post-election events, even those little promises disappeared from your announcements and interviews regarding your intention to pursue peoples’ rightful demands. This has happened while women and girls of this land have had a distinguished role in the green movement in pursuing the plundered rights of the Iranian people, have been in the front line of the green movement equal to men, and even have paid and are paying a higher price.

Pondering Dialogue…

Seeing as you, my readers, are checking out a dialogue organization website I can only guess you share my interest in this particular issue. Working from this shared interest, I want to ponder on what it means to dialogue with others in a meaningful way, and  how dialogue is being promoted and carried out, (particularly interfaith dialogue).

These last few days I have attended a serious of lectures by religious scholar Stephanie Saldana, author of the lovely book “The Bread of Angels”, and active proponent of religious dialogue.  When retelling her  experiences as a Christian woman in the Middle East and her deep appreciation of Islam, Saldana made an observation about the nature of dialogue, “Dialogue is like marriage counseling…”. That it is only after you have built a deep relationship with someone over time that you can truly engage in dialogue where you bring up issue that you deeply struggle over and disagree upon instead of sticking to your comfort zones of similarities.

I found it interesting to compare this conception of dialogue to those put forth by Xenia members in the “What is Dialogue” video series, (which can be found here). For myself,  dialogue is not dependent on time. It is possible to know someone for years without ever having had a deep exchange just as it is possible to meet someone once and have a life changing experience with them. Indeed one of my own such experiences was an evening-long conversation at a local cafe with a elderly gentleman from West Texas. While we came from very different backgrounds and belief systems, we were able to see each other as human, sit down, and struggle together over issues which often send people into screaming matches. It is this seeing each other as human which I feel lies at the very heart of dialogue. While it often takes time to see others in such a way sometimes, it is an immediate realization which shocks one to the core.

However, instead of focusing solely on what it means to be in dialogue with others, a topic which I feel has been well covered by others within the Xenia Institute,  I instead wish to turn our attention to the ways we try to promote dialogue and organize “dialogue events”.

During her visit Saldana offered a critique, which inspired this blog, on the way major dialogue events are often conducted. As she explains from her own experiences, formal dialogue events are generally structured as a panel or meetings where the speakers, who have never met before, talk about issue of unity. The problem is that the panelists often do not end up engaging over the issues, rather they attempt to answer the questions from their tradition’s official stance instead of interacting with each other. Moreover they are put into the position trying to represent an entire tradition when they are just one person. Finally, as such events generally invite an “official” representative of a religion  instead of average practitioners, it is often the case  that women and members of submovements are left out of these formal dialogue opportunities.

For the most part I would agree with this critique. From my own experiences with interfaith dialogue events (and their political equivalent: the “bi-partisan discussion”) there is often a frustrating lack of deep engagement going on. Rather people tend to talk to each other instead of with each other. Moreover, at such events I often feel as though people focus more on discussing dialogue and why it is important rather than actually engaging in it. I don’t necessarily believe this lessens the value of such events, just that they accomplish a different level of conversation, which is still  important for encouraging future discussion. If personal dialogue is like marriage counseling which takes place after deep acquaintance, than dialogue panels are like the awkward first date which might lead to more promising things.

Still I feel that we need to start considering different models for “dialogue events” and new ways of facilitating dialogue within communities, for example, during formal events trying to focus on individuals as being part of their tradition rather than as being representatives of said tradition. One might also structure dialogue events to meet over an extended time in more personal settings, (such as Xenia does with its dialogue groups). Finally, for dialogue to occur there must be respect toward the other: a seeing them as they are rather than what you assume… But this does not mean dialogue must be harmonious or even particularly friendly at times. Perhaps groups might try to go beyond the unifying aspects of dialogue often employed to keep people polite and let members emphasize their difference even if it is challenging to others.

These are issues with which I have been struggling for some time as I work with what I hope to accomplish and learn by becoming involved in the dialogue movement. I feel it is important to occasionally take a step back and look at expectations, methods, and assumptions of  “encouraging dialogue” so as to understand how we have affected the world, to see what we need to do to remain true to the spirit of dialogue rather than being caught up in its ideals.

Still No Sunset for Patriot Act Measures

News and analysis…

Once again the US Patriot Act has entered the fray between security and freedom of speech. Within the last month there have been two separate debates circling the act. First is the issue of freedom of speech in relation to the Patriot Act’s prohibition on “material support” of terrorists groups, (a broadly defined term that includes everything from supplying weapons to teaching “terrorist” leaders how resolve disputes peacefully). Second is the recent extension of the Patriot Act without any increased restriction to protect privacy rights of citizens. These are fascinating debates to follow because it so clearly expresses how our government deals with issues of dialogue, privacy, and justice for those groups it declares suspect, and how the ideals of freedom of speech, privacy, and “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are balanced against national security.

For an extensive background on the current debates surrounding the Patriot Act I recommend this article featured on Truthout.

The Huffington Post |  Dashing the hopes of liberals, the Senate Wednesday night instead passed – by voice vote without debate – a one-year extension of key parts of the USA Patriot Act that would have expired on Sunday.

Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

The House was prepared to approve the extension Thursday, dropping even more extensive privacy protections approved by the House Judiciary Committee.

The Democratic retreat is a political victory for Republicans, who gained new ammunition for their election theme that the GOP can better protect America. The outcome is a major disappointment for Democrats and their liberal allies, including the American Civil Liberties Union, who believe the Patriot Act fails to protect Americans’ privacy and gives the government too much authority to spy on Americans and seize their property.

Foreign Policy  | Senate Judiciary Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions, R-AL, confirmed to The Cable that the current thinking was to extend the Patriot Act provisions in their current form, ignoring the changes his own committee approved.

“The Patriot Act has worked and the last thing we should do is weaken it. So I think it’s a good development that we are going to continue it as is,” said Sessions. “That’s the right direction.”

Here’s the scope of the three provisions that will be extended, according to Congressional Quarterly:

One of the expiring provisions allows the government to seek orders from a special federal court for “any tangible thing” that it says is related to a terrorism investigation. Another allows the government to seek court orders for roving wiretaps on terrorism suspects who shift their modes of communication. The third provision allows the government to apply to the special court for surveillance orders involving suspected “lone wolf” terrorists who do not necessarily have ties to a larger organization.”

Alter Net | The specter of McCarthyism is again hanging over America, but this time it has found a new name. Next week, the Court will hear Humanitarian Law Project v. Holder, a case that calls into question broad restrictions on speech. The lawsuit challenges parts of the Patriot Act that prohibit American citizens from speaking with groups said to be terrorists. The government argues that speaking with or on behalf of these groups can be seen as “material support.” This is an eerily similar argument to the one made against Adrian during the Red Scare. I have heard family stories of screenwriters labeled communists for bringing food to a canned food drive loosely connected with the Communist Party. This kind of guilt by association is poison for a free society.

The Patriot Act’s provisions go even further than the Hollywood blacklists that ended careers and forced an entire generation of talented artists, intellectuals, and activists into the ranks of the unemployed and exiled abroad. Now, speaking with the wrong group can get you fifteen years in federal prison.

The upcoming suit is brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights on behalf of Ralph Fertig, a civil rights lawyer and president of the Humanitarian Law Project, a nonprofit group that has a long history of mediating international conflicts. His organization hopes to do human rights trainings around the world to promote nonviolent conflict resolution — but if he does so, he may be thrown in jail under the Patriot Act. It is a tragic irony that under the current law promoting nonviolence could get an American citizen imprisoned as a supporter of terrorism. Throwing Americans in jail for trying to convince terrorist groups to lay down their arms doesn’t make us safer. It weakens our democracy.

NPR | Federal law makes it a crime to provide material support to any organization designated as a terrorist group by the secretary of state. But the definition of material support includes not just providing weapons, money or bomb-making skills; it includes providing any sort of expert advice, training or personnel — including advice on how to resolve disputes peaceably or training on how to make human rights claims before the United Nations.

The nonprofit Humanitarian Law Project has a long history of engaging in such activity, mediating international conflicts and promoting human rights. But it has stopped doing some of its work for fear of being prosecuted under the material support provision.

“My speech is particularly nonviolent,” says Ralph Fertig, president of the organization. “I’ve gone to jail in the United States for my advocacy for peace.”

The federal government, he maintains, cannot constitutionally make it a crime to help others advocate lawful, peaceful solutions to international conflicts. In particular, Fertig and his organization have helped the Kurdistan Workers Party, known as the PKK, make human rights claims before international bodies. They have trained Kurdish leaders in peacemaking negotiations and have brought them to Washington to lobby. But when the PKK was designated an international terrorist organization under the Patriot Act, that all stopped, and the Humanitarian Law Project went to court.

The government, arguing that the PKK had engaged in terrorist activities that have cost some 22,000 lives, said it was justified in making the organization a pariah. Thus, the government contended, even filing a legal brief on behalf of the PKK in an American court would be a crime.

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Sudan Parties Sign Darfur Ceasefire  |  Al Jazeera

The conflict in Darfur, which has pitched ethnic African tribesmen against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government, has raged far the last seven years.

While numerous ceasefires agreements in the past have been short-lived, analysts say that the forthcoming elections in Sudan and increased international pressure could give this initiative a better chance of survival.

But officials warned a March 15 deadline for a final peace deal was overly ambitious.

“After the agreement is signed, the rest will come through more negotiations,” said Adrees Mahmoud, a Europe-based Jem representative, who was in Qatar for the signing.

El Sadig el-Faqih, a former adviser to Sudan’s president, who was also in Qatar, told Al Jazeera the move was a “framework to start discussing the details” and a peace deal could only go ahead when all parties were involved.

Twitter Reaches His Holiness, Now Online @DalaiLama  |  The Raw Story

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has joined micro-blogging service Twitter, attracting over 55,000 followers in just two days.

The Dalai Lama’s Twitter feed — @DalaiLama — was launched on Monday, a day after he met in Los Angeles with Evan Williams, one of Twitter’s founders.

“Met the Dalai Lama today in LA. Pitched him on using Twitter. He laughed,” Williams “tweeted” following the meeting.

The next day, however, the Tibetan spiritual leader had an account and received a “Welcome @DalaiLama” message from Twitter’s new spokesman, Sean Garrett.

Drug-resistance Malaria ‘Growing’ on Cambodia  |  BBC News

Parasites are developing resistance to one of the most important anti-malaria drugs, according to experts.

Artimisinin has been highly effective, particularly in places where resistance to other drugs has developed.

But now some patients along Cambodia’s border with Thailand are taking longer to respond to the treatment.

Experts on the disease are meeting village health workers in Cambodia’s capital, Phnom Penh, to discuss ways to stop drug-resistant malaria spreading.

Utah Bill Criminalizes Miscarriage  |  RH Reality Check

In addition to criminalizing an intentional attempt to induce a miscarriage or abortion, the bill also creates a standard that could make women legally responsible for miscarriages caused by “reckless” behavior.

Using the legal standard of “reckless behavior” all a district attorney needs to show is that a woman behaved in a manner that is thought to cause miscarriage, even if she didn’t intend to lose the pregnancy. Drink too much alcohol and have a miscarriage? Under the new law such actions could be cause for prosecution.

“This creates a law that makes any pregnant woman who has a miscarriage potentially criminally liable for murder,” says Missy Bird, executive director of Planned Parenthood Action Fund of Utah. Bird says there are no exemptions in the bill for victims of domestic violence or for those who are substance abusers. The standard is so broad, Bird says, “there nothing in the bill to exempt a woman for not wearing her seatbelt who got into a car accident.”

Such a standard could even make falling down stairs a prosecutable event, such as the recent case in Iowa where a pregnant woman who fell down the stairs at her home was arrested under the suspicion she was trying to terminate her pregnancy.

To Quote Samuel Taylor Coleridge…

Water conservation is perhaps one of the most important challenges humanity faces in the coming century, but it is still one that is overlooked and taken for granted by those fortunate enough to have regular access to the benefits of a clean water supply. Clean drinking water, indoor pluming, bottled mineral water, (flavored or otherwise), year-round green lawns, swimming pools, corporate farms in the desert, artificial lakes, diverted rivers, hydraulic electric plants–these are the luxuries of the rich, of which almost everyone is in America and Europe is in comparison to rest of the world. The many ways modern, developed societies use water truly displays our ignorance, arrogance, and sheer non-appreciation for this most important of resources, which has led to a growing GLOBAL water crisis.

There is always someone who quips, “The Earth is around 70% water, how can we be having a water crisis?” Yes, there is a huge about of water on our planet, but only about 3% is fresh water, most of which is frozen in polar icecaps, leaving less than 1% easily, (depending on if you have the technology), accessible for human consumption. And consume it do we ever. Over 70% of human water usage is dedicated to agriculture, of which nearly half is wasted through inefficient irrigation, evaporation, etc. In order to maintain these wasteful practices, (something which America and China are particularly culpable), we divert rivers and drain lakes and wetlands–thus destroying valuable ecosystems. And whatever water we don’t use, we pollute with sewage and chemical runoff from our farms, factories, and very homes.

The global south has born the brunt of the water crisis, particularly in Africa and the Middle East where booming populations mixed with depleted traditional water sources, (such as underground aquifers, lakes, and rivers), have created a state of increased tension which has only exacerbated various conflicts. Unfortunately, in the rush for these countries to develop, they have adopted many of the water practices and suggestion of the global north, which, to be quite frank, is a terrible model for sustainable water use.

It it important to realize that water shortages affect the global north as well where the struggle over water rights have increased dramatically over the last 50 years. Think about the droughts which afflicted much of the western US between 1999 and 2004, or the water shortages which hit Los Angeles in 2009. Just the past Sunday this article came out regarding the water quality of Norman Oklahoma’s own Lake Thunderbird, which revealed that the city’s principle water source  has already been classified as a Sensitive Water Supply by the state.

Dr. Baxter Vieux, a civil engineering and environmental science professor at the University of Oklahoma, said the need to keep a pretty lawn is a big problem for the lake’s water quality. “There’s a culprit,” Vieux said. “And we’re all a little bit guilty.”

Vieux said residents and others dump about 20 tons of fertilizer in Lake Thunderbird each year. He said the fertilizer in run-off water causes algae to grow at an alarming rate, causing the lake’s water quality to drop and creating an environment where fish and other animals may not be able to get as much oxygen as they need.

But it’s not just Norman and its residents who are the problem. Several other cities, including Oklahoma City, lie within Lake Thunderbird’s watershed. Vieux said urban development in the Lake Thunderbird watershed is expected to double by 2030 as sprawl creeps into the outer limits of Norman, Midwest City and Oklahoma City. He said all the added impervious surfaces — things like concrete that don’t allow water to soak in — will cause the lake’s water quality to decrease further.

Those are some of the facts and figures human water habits, but what does it mean in terms of the quality of life, social justice, development and world politics? In regards to water issues in the global south many development organizations like to fund well-drilling projects, seeing it as a relatively cheap, quick, and simple way to provide easily accessible water to rural communities. Some of the benefits of well-drilling projects are the freeing up of time for village women, (who would otherwise spend a majority of their day fetching water), having a clean source of drinking water, (which cuts down on disease), and having a steady water source for irrigation of fields, (which results in better crops, more food and money). Sounds perfect, right?

Unfortunately there is a down side. For example, in Yemen development organizations drilled wells in villages and for local agriculture around the country. As this article points out, by encouraging well drilling for farming and western style crop irrigation instead of the traditional rainwater irrigation, Yemen has now exhausted its underground aquifers and, as a result, its drinking water supply. Similar situations have occurred around the world, where by becoming dependent on man-made water works, (such as wells, dams, artificial canals, etc), communities neglect traditional water conservation practices in favor of a quick, easy source.

The problem is that having this easy source of water also allow communities and agricultural practices to expand beyond the natural limits of the ecosystem.But what happens when the well-pump breaks, the river becomes polluted, the lake shrinks, or the aquifers run dry? Suddenly communities are faced with drought, disease, famine, (if they depend on sustenance agriculture), and a host of other problems. In urban areas the major problems become water rationing and increasing water prices–which then raises a human rights question. Should people have to pay for clean water? After all, we can not survive without water so is it ethical for companies, cities, governments, etc., to charge people for it and to deny water to other communities in need? It is these issues which lie at the heart of various water disputes, such as those between Oklahoma and Texas, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, and the Central Asian states.

We, as a global community, need to start addressing water management seriously. Water conservation in the global north is pitifully low, while water sources in the global south are insufficient for their current needs–at least when using current day practices. Water management is a huge issue which extends into environmental conservation, human rights, security studies, meteorology, politics, global trade, agricultural practices, scientific development, even religion, (for example the Indus river is sacred for many Hindu religious traditions). Water literally affects every single living thing on this planet every day and it can not and should not be ignored.

It certainly gives you something to think about next time you have a drink….

Going “Nuclear” Again?

News and analysis…

It is amazing how history repeats itself… Especially in Washington D.C. where it seems to run in a four year cycle. This phenomena is readily apparent in the most recent argument on Capital Hill–namely filibuster reform. Back in 2005 Republicans tried to introduce an option, (the so called ‘nuclear option’), to kill the filibuster in retaliation to the threats of an uncooperative Democrat minority. Fast forward to the present and we now see Democrats trying the exact same thing in response to a stubborn Republican minority. While is seems unlikely to get anywhere, filibuster reform certainly illustrates the problems of excessive bipartisan ship and why it is so difficult for anything to be accomplished in Congress.

The Hill | Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) intends to introduce legislation that would take away the minority’s power to filibuster legislation.

Speaking to The Hill, Harkin said use of the filibuster has ground the legislative process to a halt.

“While there are reasons to slow bills down and get the public aware of what’s happening, there’s no excuse for having a few people just stop everything with a filibuster,” he said.

Several liberal activists as well as Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) this week have called for filibuster reform to make it easier for legislation to pass.

In the House, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) this week introduced a resolution urging the Senate to lower the filibuster threshold, adding in a statement that the legislative tactic “has begun to erode the integrity of our Democratic process.”

Under Harkin’s bill, which is co-sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), 60 votes would still be necessary to cut off debate on an initial procedural motion. If senators failed to reach 60 votes, a second vote would be possible two days later that would require only 57 votes to cut off debate. If that also failed, a third vote two days after that would require 54 votes to end debate. A fourth vote after two more days would require just 51 votes.

NPR  | As he [Evan Bayh] has said all week, one of his main reasons for deciding to leave the Senate is that, with 60 votes seemingly needed to pass anything these days, nothing is getting done. Demanding the magic number of 60 is a tactic “abused” by the Senate minority, Bayh said. He said he would support lowering the threshold from 60 to 55 — the “right way to go,” he thought — reminding us that when his father, Birch Bayh, was in the Senate (1963-80), lawmakers lowered the magic number from 67.

He also got a bit wistful about the filibuster itself; make ‘em do what Jimmy Stewart did in Mr. Smith Goes To Washington, if they want to hold up legislation. If the Republicans feel that strongly about stopping this or that, Bayh said, “make them go to the floor” and actually filibuster, rather than simply threaten it, as is the custom today.

Daily Kos | What we’ve come to know as the modern filibuster these days rarely involves anything even remotely resembling marathon speeches on the floor. All of the “action” is abstract. Objecting Senators indicate their willingness to refuse assent to any unanimous consent agreements to bring a measure to the floor for debate, and that resolve is either tested by filing a motion for cloture and holding a vote (with the well-known threshold 3/5 of Senators chosen and sworn — 60 in a full Senate — required to end debate), or else the point is conceded, temporarily or otherwise, that a cloture vote would fail for lack of support.

But that’s not the end of the story, and most of the advocates for “forcing” a filibuster are more interested in what happens next, though in modern practice, what happens next is: nothing. That is, a failed cloture vote or declining to even take a cloture vote because it’s expected to fail usually results in pulling the bill from the floor or otherwise indefinitely delaying its consideration. To be a little clearer about it, then, those who want to see a filibuster forced are interested in what happens if the Senate leadership refuses to give up on a bill that’s being blocked and can’t currently get 60 votes for cloture.

Can’t Harry Reid just leave the bill on the floor for debate, they ask, and keep trying for cloture over and over until someone breaks? Or is a cloture motion even really necessary? If you’re willing to tough it out on cloture votes over and over again, why not simply let the obstructionists talk themselves into a coma instead?

This is all theoretically possible, but none of it would happen in a vacuum. Remember that at any given time, there are hundreds of measures which could and should be moving through a properly functioning Senate. If one measure is stuck on the floor for some indeterminate length of time, that means none of the others are moving. And some of those other measures can by themselves cause enormous problems when they don’t move on time.

TMPDC | The problem is political. ”It’s a brute force move that basically blatantly ignores the existing rules,” said Norm Ornstein, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. “It would be the equivalent of in a Super Bowl game, a team basically tackles all the referees, ties ‘em up and throws them onto the sidelines and declares that a penalty is invalid.”

Reforms by ruling have occurred in the Senate in the past — but mostly for much smaller things, Binder said, like jump-starting debate on a nominee. To use the “nuclear option” on something much bigger — like filibuster reform — Binder believes the majority would have to be absolutely “convinced that what they’re doing is going to be popular.”

Not to mention the fact that Democrats almost certainly won’t have a Senate majority forever. So whatever watering down of the filibuster they push now might end up hobbling them when they become the minority again one day.

“As long as senators think like that, they’re gonna think twice about giving up their own parliamentary rights,” Binder said.

Ornstein notes that the “nuclear option” wouldn’t be quite so nuclear if it came at the beginning of a new Congress. In that case, the presiding officer’s ruling would be a little different — essentially, that the Senate isn’t a continuing body, and has the right to rewrite its rules when new members join, rather than that the Constitution gives the Senate the right to write its own rules carte blanche.

Washington Post | Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday dismissed an effort by some Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, saying the chamber’s procedures were designed to prevent the majority party from unilaterally changing the rules.

Minutes before a pair of colleagues formally unveiled their proposal to eliminate filibusters, Reid told reporters he adhered to the long-standing Senate rule that only a two-thirds majority could change the chamber’s rules. This high hurdle — established decades ago in an effort to prevent a party with a simple majority from ruling the chamber with an iron fist — would require eight Republicans to join the 59 members of the Democratic caucus to alter the rules, something Reid said is not going to happen.

“I’m totally familiar with his idea,” Reid said of the latest filibuster-reform resolution, from Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa). “It takes 67 votes, and that, kind of, answers the question.”

Best of the Web…

Absolutely Normal Home Schoolers  |  GetReligion.org

This brings us to a perfectly normal news report in the Washington Post about homeschooling. Actually, that is not quite right. This story treats home schoolers with complete and total respect, which is not always the case in the mainstream press.
The news hook, of course, is the fact that the story centers on the choices made by Muslim families — here in the United States. Here is the top of the story by Tara Bahrampour:

Saudi to Grant Women Court Access  | Al Jazeera

Saudi Arabia could soon allow women lawyers to appear in court to argue cases for the first time.

Mohammed al-Issa, the justice minister, said the government is drafting a new law to permit female lawyers to argue family-related cases, including divorce and child custody.

Filipino Group Helps Women Find Life Outside of Trafficking  |  CNN World

Funded by individual donations, as well as grants from UNAIDS and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, Renew offers shelter-based programs, housing, food, legal representation and education courses, all of which aim to help women return to their families or reintegrate into the community.

Renew also has a keen interest in helping child victims of the sex trade; an estimated 60,000 to 100,000 children in the Philippines are involved in prostitution rings, according to Minette Rimando, a spokeswoman for theU.N.‘S International Labour Organization’s Manila office.

No Girls Allowed  |  Daily Kos

It’s always something.

Time and again, phony concern for women has been used to justify their exclusion from countless Boys Only clubs. And this year, it’s on display again at the Winter Olympics, where ski jumping is the one sport in which only men are allowed to compete.

It didn’t matter that the International Ski Federation voted 114-1 to let women jump. And the Supreme Court of British Columbia — the Canadian province where Vancouver is located — ruled that the International Olympic Committee was clearly committing gender discrimination. No matter: the IOC could not be shamed. As IOC President Jacques Rogge “explained”:

Reflections On Help and Service.

At the Xenia Institute’s Fifth Annual Sam Matthews Social Justice Award Banquet, Commissioner Lisa Schmidt, of the Norman Human Rights Commission, gave a fascinating keynote address over the difference between help and service.

She began with a quote by Dr. Rachel Naomi Reman M.D.:

When you help you see life as weak, when you fix you see life as broken, when you serve you see life as whole. Fixing and helping may be the work of the ego and service the work of the soul.

Commissioner Schmidt went on to discuss how the difference between helping and serving is one of intention and relation with others:

Serving is different from helping. Helping is based on inequality, it is not a relationship between equals. When you help you use your own strength to help those of lesser strength.

I found this to be an amazing distinction and immediately starting reflecting on how help and service are used is realms such as the non-for-profit sector or foreign aid programs. For example, like many soon-to-be collage graduates, I hope to volunteer with the Peace Corps and serve in another country for 2 years working on development projects. Notice the term “serve”. I found interesting that Peace Corp recruitment focuses on the word “service”. Initially I thought it was an attempt to appeal to the American patriotic spirit à la military terminology, but now I see it in a different light. Perhaps someone in the Peace Corp advertising department read Dr. Remen’s work. More likely they learned it from hard experience by going into communities and realizing that the people didn’t want “help” but rather partnership.

At a discussion led by Ghanaian activist Franciska Issaka, which I was fortunate enought to attend,  she at one point said that that members of her community love when international volunteers come to work with them, but they dislike when people come to direct or guide them. Looking back on this remark I now see how it exemplifies this distinction between help and service. One is a situation of equality where all are working together while the other is a situation of an inherent inequality between those charge and those in need–take this too far and it begins to smack of  Kipling’s “White Man’s Burden“.

Please understand that no one is saying that helping others is a bad thing, simply that you must be aware of how your aid and intentions are perceived by those you aid (and by yourself). Helping someone get out of a burning car, helping someone cross the street, helping someone figure out how to use a computer. It is not bad to offer your help, indeed sometimes you might think it necessary for the safety of the other. But in doing so you are placing yourself in a position of authority, (i.e. I’m stronger, more knowledgeable, am in control, etc), which others might or might not appreciate—especially if they didn’t ask for your aid. As Commissioner Schmidt said:

People can feel this inequality and when you help you can inadvertently take away from people more than we could ever give them. We may diminish their self-esteem, their sense of worth, integrity, and wholeness.

So what does it mean to serve someone instead of help them? When you serve you are relating all that you are, (strengths, weaknesses, dreams, and doubts), to all that is the other. It is a yin-yang partnership of equality, where each person has skills which they can use to support where the other less able. When you serve you realize that you are learning as much as you teach and that no matter how “superior” you might appear in relation to another person you are equals. For example, you may have gone to university while they never completed a formal education, but at the same time they may be better able to operate in a rough economy because they were doing so while you were spending time in school. Service is realizing the cost-benefit analysis of experience and the knowledge that it all comes out in the wash (and that we’re all cleaner for it)

It seems to me that the challenge for those interested in social justice, non-for-profit work, foreign aid, etc. is to pay attention to when we’re helping as opposed to serving. What would the world look like if  the development programs of the IMF and World Bank were focused on serving those interested in shifting to an industrialized economy rather than to “help people help themselves“. How would the welfare system function if policy makers actually paid attention to the thoughts and suggestions of those using it? What would schools be like is we stopped helping at risk students and started serving them instead?

To end this discussion on intentions, respect, help and service, I will close with another quote by Dr. Reman:

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention…. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.

No Longer Protected.

News and analysis…

Anti-discrimination politics  is a surprisingly tricky issue, despite it being about the relatively basic idea that you don’t deny certain benefits or punish people based on skin- tone, ethnicity, gender, religions, sexual orientation, etc. However, there is the counter argument that you also shouldn’t protect certain groups based on these attributes. There is always a struggle on where we draw the line between anti-discrimination and minority protectionism. While there are certainly those who honestly oppose group-based legal protection out of the belief that it only causes more harm  in the long run, (through being sheltered rather than being viewed a equals under the eyes of the law),  there are also those who  hide their bias and bigotry under such arguments. One must wonder which is the case in Gov. McDonnell’s (VA) recent overturning of an order protecting gay and lesbian state workers. Here is a link to the memo.

TPMDC | Gay and lesbian state workers in Virginia are no longer specifically protected against discrimination, thanks to a little-noticed change made by new Gov. Bob McDonnell.

McDonnell (R) on Feb 5. signed an executive order that prohibits discrimination “on the basis of race, sex, color, national origin, religion, age, political affiliation, or against otherwise qualified persons with disabilities,” as well as veterans.

It rescinds the order that Gov. Tim Kaine signed Jan 14. 2006 as one of his first actions. After promising a “fair and inclusive” administration in his inaugural address, Kaine (D) added veterans to the non-discrimination polity- and sexual orientation.

Human Rights Campaign |Gov. McDonnell first opposed protecting employees based on sexual orientation when he was Attorney General, arguing that the state’s discrimination policy should be defined by the legislature. His new order, which includes all previously protected categories including race, sex, religion and age – but not the previously protected category of sexual orientation – was signed on Feb. 5, but was first reported on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Current attorney general Ken Cuccinelli supports Gov. McDonell’s legal reasoning. The Governor has released a policy he recently sent to staff members and Cabinet secretaries indicating that his office would not discriminate “for any reason,” but his message could hardly be clearer: discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity is not prohibited.

Hampton Roads | On Monday, McDonnell said that Kaine’s executive order on the subject remains in place, save the “sexual orientation” passage he objects to.He and Kaine jousted on the topic four years ago when McDonnell was attorney general – McDonnell argues that such employment policies are the province of the legislature, not the governor.

And he told reporters Monday his policy will remain what it was when he was the state’s top prosecutor – discrimination won’t be tolerated in the state work force.

“The only thing I care about is will they work hard, will they follow the vision that I’ve outlined for state government, will they have a servant’s heart, do they love Virginia and will they get results,” he said.

Box Turtle Bulletin | This action by their governor is an open invitation for supervisors or managers to fire or demote employees. And it is likely to happen.But what is even more likely to occur is abuse, harassment, and antagonizing of gay people. If a coworker calls someone a “damn pervert”, that’s not going to be punished. If the morning meeting is started by a daily f*ggot joke, there’s no recourse. If a state employee shares how they lost the paperwork of the “flaming queen in my line” to gales of laughter, that will not be illegal discrimination. And posting big signs quoting Leviticus or “protecting marriage” will not be an indication of a hostile workplace.

Outside The Beltway | Not a particularly surprising development.  McDonnell is an unabashed evangelical and social conservative and Virginia is, outside the DC suburbs where I live, a staunchly conservative state.

Further, McDonnell’s office issued a statement saying, “It shall be the policy of the office of the Governor to ensure equal opportunity in the workplace, encourage excellence by rewarding achievement based on merit, and prohibit discrimination for any reason. Hiring, promotion, discipline and termination of employees shall be based on qualifications, performance and results.”  One presumes that will in fact be the case.

Indeed, it’s difficult to see how the state government could win a suit in which there was blatant discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation regardless of the state of this executive order.   My sense, then, is that this is a sop to the base with no meaning.  It’s interesting, though, that this was done with so little fanfare that we’re just now hearing about it.

Best of the web…

In Cairo Trash City, School Teaches Reading and Recycling  |  The News Hour

For generations, the Zabaleen people have hauled away Cairo’s refuse and lived on the fringes of society. But thanks to an enterprising recycling school, the poor and mostly illiterate inhabitants of “Trash City” are receiving education and job training for the first time. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Egypt.

Dalai Lama ‘Very Happy’ With Obama Talks  |  Huffington Post

Report from a Pashtun Teen  |  On the Ground

Sher Bano is a 17-year-old Pashtun girl from Pakistan who spent last year as an exchange student in Evanston, Illinois, as part of the Youth Exchange and Study (YES) Program. She is now back in the city of Peshawar in the northwest of Pakistan, but is unable to attend formal school because of insecurity there. As a guest blogger, she’ll be writing about life in Pakistan from the perspective of a teenage girl who has spent time in the West.

One of my American friends once asked me if I traveled by camel in Pakistan. Needless to say, my answer was no. But Americans should know more about life in Pakistan than just this. Pakistanis as a whole are democratic, progressive and mostly secular in their attitudes; it is because of this that a religious party could almost never win an election here.

Still Blaming the Victim…

News and Analysis…

In preparation for the Xenia Institute’s upcoming event on intimate partner violence, I thought it worth while to examine how issues related to domestic abuse (such as rape) are dealt with in the news. Depressingly, aside from the occasional 2 second headline, these issues are still largely ignored by the public… and when addressed it can met by a decidedly negative response. Indeed there are still those who try and blame the victims of abuse alongside their assailants, as demonstrated by a recent, rather controversial survey taken in England.

BBC News | Almost three quarters of the women who believed this said if a victim got into bed with the assailant before an attack they should accept some responsibility.

One-third blamed victims who had dressed provocatively or gone back to the attacker’s house for a drink.

The survey of more than 1,000 people in London marked the 10th anniversary of the Haven service for rape victims

More than half of those of both sexes questioned said there were some circumstances when a rape victim should accept responsibility for an attack….

The survey also found more than one in 10 people were unsure whether they would report being raped to the police, and 2% said they would definitely not do so.

The main reasons were being too embarrassed or ashamed (55%), wanting to forget it had happened (41%) and not wanting to go to court (38%).

StyleCaster | Harrison may be right that women engage in victim-blaming as a way of feeling safe, convincing themselves that only people who act a certain way get raped. It’s possible, too, that a decline in the numbers of young women who identify with feminism have made more young people convinced that a woman who wears a short skirt is “asking for it.”

Shakesville | These results feel sensational, because ZOMG even women blame victims! But the reality is that when people disproportionately targeted by sexual target victim-blame, it is frequently, among women who have not been raped, an attempt to disassociate from the ugly reality that there’s no magic strategy to insulate oneself from all possibility of sexual assault. Or, among victim-blaming survivors, a reflection of guilt and shame—a misplaced feeling of responsibility for one’s own rape.
That doesn’t make the victim-blaming any more justified (or less depressing), but it does provide a context that most media coverage will lack.

New Stateman | But the fact is, if so many people are ready to believe that a woman is culpable in her own violation, jury trials will inevitably be affected: it is a self-perpetuating, vicious circle. While the majority of people in the Havens poll were keen to assign partial blame to the victim, one in five women said that they would not report it to the police if they were raped, saying that they would be ashamed, or would not be believed. This feeling is justified — just last year a freedom of information request showed that some police forces were failing to record more than 40 per cent of reported rape cases — but we have no hope of changing police attitudes if these attitudes continue to proliferate across society.

We urgently need education; a high profile campaign, starting with schools, to educate the public and eradicate the view that rape is sometimes deserved

Best on the web…

Herpes Drug Might Also Slow HIV Progression  | Business Week

New research suggests that people who are infected with both HIV-1, a strain of the AIDS virus, and herpes simplex virus type 2 could benefit in more than one way by taking a herpes drug called acyclovir. In addition to treating herpes, the medication appears to also slow the progression of HIV.

Computer Engineer Barbie Had PhD In FUN (And Breaking Down Stereotypes) |  Gizmodo

Barbie’s had 124 careers since 1959, ranging from Stewardess to Paratrooper. Today she gets her 125th: computer engineer. You can tell she’s smart ’cause she’s got glasses, and reads nothing but binary.

Barbie’s latest career move is also significant for being the first decided entirely by online vote. Though maybe it’s not so surprising that the internet community was especially inclined to see a Bluetooth-rocking geektastic Barbie.

Winter Olympic Medals Made From Recycled E-Waste  |  Scientific American

When Olympic champions are crowned at this year’s winter games in Vancouver, these elite athletes will be taking home more than just gold, silver or bronze medals—they will be playing a role in Canada’s efforts toreduce electronic waste. That’s because each medal was made with a tiny bit of the more than 140,000 tons of e-waste that otherwise would have been sent to Canadian landfills.

Nothing But Words™…

Human beings can be very selfish creatures. We come up with a gadget, an idea, even a word and we immediately seek to reserve it for only those people we like and punish those whom we see as stealing “our” creation. This trait has only been exacerbated  by the current global economic system of trade marks, patents, copyright, etc, where legal and monetary punishment tries to limit the use of an idea. While I understand that this system is, in theory, to prevent the exploitation of someone’s creative work ( thus allowing them to make a living off their idea), it has been corrupted in some truly bizarre ways–to the point that preexisting words, created by no one still living, are now being fought over in court.

Take for example the NFL’s recent failed attempt to claim exclusive rights to the phrase “who ‘dat”. The phase has long been in common usage and started being used by Saints fans in the 1970’s. To make matters even more confusing it was registered by two different groups in the 1980’s. But should the phrase even fall under copy right laws? After all, historians trace its usage back to the 1800’s so it was hardly the creative work of anyone now trying to claim it, and has there hasn’t been any alteration to the phrase to make it distinguishable from its generic form (such has how APPLE ®  is different from an apple).

Such disputes as the one above are quite common throughout the world and occur over almost anything you can think about. For some ludicrous examples of the global fight over names of common food products (such as catfish) read this article from Time magazine… However the fight over preexisting words can extend beyond economic greed and turn into issues of cultural heritage and exclusivism and it is these cases that really make one consider how important certain words can be to our identity.

One such case is the current dispute in Malaysia over who can use the word Allah (Arabic for God). Recent violence  has erupted over the decision of the Malaysian High Court to strike down a ban on non-Muslims using the word Allah in their literature. This issue is tied to identity and discrimination of religions minorities by the state. The population of Malaysia is largely Muslim, but also has an established Christian community which argues that it is perfectly acceptable from them to use Allah as it is common word for God used in the country. However many Malaysian Muslims argue that the word Allah is exclusive to Islam and is an integral part of Muslim identity.

Now this is an interesting case. Can it really be argued that one group has exclusive rights to a name of the divine? Yes there are countless groups out there who argue theologically that they are the favored people, that their gods are the true gods, etc, but does that mean they have an exclusive LEGAL right to a description of the holy? It can be argued that certain words have power, (true names, etc), and that they are vital part of the identity of a certain group–and by taking that word away, (i.e. letting outsiders use it), you in fact destroy the group. And what about the argument put forth by many  groups about cultural exploitation? While these arguments certainly have merit, particularly in relation to the issues of globalization and the oppression of indigenous peoples, can their line of logic be applied to something as universal and deeply personal as the divine?

I would love to hear your thoughts on the matter….

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