Alaska women say no to Palin, and other linkage.

Phew, I have a lot of links to catch up on, because I’ve had a busy day! 🙂

Yesterday’s linkage:

Crooks and Liars report on a really nice sized rally of Alaska women who do not support Sarah Palin.

Feministe add to the growing amount of scary information on Sarah Palin’s administration in Wasilla Alaska saying “no” to paying for rape kits.

The blogger at kmareka.com speculates that the reason Wasilla and Palin charged rape victims for their own rape kits may have been an insidious attempt to discourage getting the kits done so that the women would not have access to emergency contraception.

MOMocrats compare the educational history of the major presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

Christian Liberal elaborates the differences between a nation using its power wisely versus using force.

Natalia Antonova has a snark filled post about the cluelessness of McCain and Palin.

Latoya at Racialicious compares Sarah Palin and Condoleeza Rice in a respectful but critical manner. I enjoyed this post!

Reappropriate has a post about the Republican party’s sudden and hypocritical “embrace” of feminism.

Season of the Bitch critiques Saturday Night Live’s sketch with Tina Fey as Sarah Palin.

Speaking Out has an awful story about a comatose woman who was raped by her husband.

Today’s Linkage:

Marcella at abyss2hope writes about how the issue of rape is affecting an Oregon senate race.

Crooks and Liars reported on a vicious attack against the women who were part of the Alaska women’s rally against Sarah Palin. A conservative talk radio host called the women “maggots” and gave the women’s home addresses over the air.

Feministe has a fun and interesting post about how to make feminist ideas more accessible to everyone.

Hear Me Roar posts comments from actress Megan Fox slamming the way Disney treats their teenage starlets.

MOMocrats wonder aloud if the Bush Administration may not come with an October Surprise in the form of Osama bin Laden.

Rachel of Rachel’s Tavern links to an essay examining white priviledge through the lens of the media coverage of the Palin family.

Racialicious documents a racist attack against Barack Obama that is trying to be passed off as political satire. *reaches for barf-bag*

Season of the Bitch has an interesting quote about feminists who attack feminine women and lipstick feminists.

Speaking Out talks about the terrible treatment of trafficked teenage girls in North Texas.

Cara at The Curvature has an action alert and information on Troy Davis, a man who is facing the death penalty and for whom there is doubt about his actual guilt.

White Trash Academic has a couple interesting links on higher education, including some not so surprising shenanigans from Liberty University.

Renee from Womanist Musings writes about the silencing white feminists do to women of color.

“Palin’s harbor seal DNA earmarks notwithstanding; plz laugh at my tired and monotonous bear DNA earmark jokes.”

You can’t turn on mainstream cable news without seeing clips of Charlie Gibson’s interview with Sarah Palin. When I caught some clips, Gibson called Palin out on her securing earmarks for DNA research on harbor seals.

I sat there and thought, “Oh geez, and McCain kept telling that joke on Montana’s bear DNA research earmarks????”

What joke, you may be wondering? This one:

“My friends,” McCain says, “we spent $3 million of your money to study the DNA of bears in Montana. “Now I don’t know if that was a paternity issue or a criminal issue, but it was a waste of money.”

Yeah, that one. Before I got completely sick of listening to stump speeches on TV, I heard him tell it countless times.

Having heard this new piece of information, I assumed that this must mean he’d quit repeating that joke over and over with the addition of a VP candidate who loves her some earmarks for scientific research. Silly little me. According to Think Progress he told this joke for what has to be the billionth time…with Palin standing right next to him.

Not only does this add to my growing belief that the selection of Palin was reckless and not well thought out, it shows that either he thinks we are dumb enough not to pick up on this bit of hypocracy, or he is dumb enough to think no one was going to pick up on that bit of hypocracy.

Oh, and it also shows he needs somebody to write fresh jokes for him… *sigh*

Time for another edition of catch-up linkage.

Yesterday’s intended linkage:

This link is scary, Fundamentalist Christians, I suppose of the reconstructionist or dominionist type, are praying for John McCain to be elected president, then die in office. Scary! h/t to MOMocrats.

Christian Liberal asks a simple question, would you rather have more wars or universal health care?

Season of the Bitch shares some thoughts about love.

Marcella at abyss2hope writes about how a father’s internet monitoring software provided crucial evidence in the case against the man who sexually abused his daughter.

Racialicious links to a Salon.com article about some small-town folks’ racist and bigoted attitudes towards Obama. Come on Middle America, you’re making “small-town folks” synonymous with “small-minded folks!” *facepalm*

Crooks and Liars writes about how GOP concern over Hurricane Gustav was a sham, and the treatment of Hurricane Ike by the Republican Party proves it.

Rachel writes about the lack of diversity amongst television political pundits. She also makes the intriguing observation that when we see African-American or Latino pundits, they tend to be conservative…

Feministe offers up some truthiness to combat the McCain campaign’s lies.

White Trash Academic talks about what it was like to grow up poor, white, and in a trailer park.

Today’s linkage:

Marcella at abyss2hope shares more info about Sarah Palin and Wasila Alaska’s callous policy of charging rape victims for their own rape kits…

White Trash Academic has a weird news post of her own, check it out!

Michelle writes about Dick Armey’s being an apologist for the “Bubba vote,” aka, rural American racists…

Reappropriate writes about the sexism of gamers.

Crooks and Liars reports on do-do bird Jonah Goldberg pulling the POW card to explain McCain’s computer illiteracy and accuses Obama of ableism. Okaaaaay Jonah, that’s the ticket… *raises eyebrow*

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez writes about how some Latinas feel about Sarah Palin and this election.

Feministe analyzes the racism and sexism present in the offerings of Halloween costumes every season.

MOMocrats has an update on Troopergate.

Another linkage catch up post.

I hope to get this post done quickly, I’m making up for the day off I took yesterday, and today I have been kind of glued to the television due to Hurricane Ike. I have plenty of family as well as friends in Southeast Texas, so naturally I’m concerned…

Anyway, yesterday’s intended linkage:

Marcella at abyss2hope talks about the development of her website. When it’s through it will educate people on date rape and other forms of sexual assault. Keep an eye out for it!

Crooks and Liars has a post on how the Bush Administration has cynically used 9/11 and the shadow of Bin Laden to their political advantage.

Feministe has an excellent post on certain feminists’ unwillingness to include considerations of race and class in their discussions of feminism.

I don’t have many words on this post from MOMocrats. Basically it includes a video of John McCain being a jerk to a woman representing a POW/MIA advocacy group… *shakes head*

Racialicious has a post about the theft of intellectual property from Asian-American website owner Myles Valentin by one of his so-called friends. With friends like that, who needs enemies?

Here’s a doosy of an article, high heel shoes for toddler girls, hat tip to Megadeth.com forum peeps.

Season of the Bitch has a great write up about the play In Conflict, which deals with the lives of Iraq War veterans.

And White Trash Academic has a really sad post on the mental health of our veterans.

A Christian Liberal Perspective has a post about how remote killing technology is causing depression in those who have to use it.

Today’s linkage:

Hat tip to Christian Liberal: Women Against Sarah Palin

From Crooks and Liars: Sean Hannity goes beserk and yells at a policy person. Simmer down, Sean, seriously!

Feministe has a great post on the politics of Black women’s hair.

MOMocrats link to a comparison of Obama’s and McCain’s positions on taxes.

Natalia Antonova is rightfully worried about Sarah Palin’s eagerness to go to war with Russia.

Racialicious has a post about the situation that some feminists find themselves in following McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin.

Reappropriate writes about disturbing comments made about multiracial children by a Freakonomics author…

Season of the Bitch wants to reclaim lipstick from Sarah Palin’s politicizing…

And Marcella writes about how forced pregnancy is yet another way rapists and abusers control their victims…

Well, that’s it for now, I reckon!

Linkage extravaganza; I’m playing catch up!

Hey everybody, I am backed up on my linkage post, so I will try to get through everything quickly. And after that I probably ought to upgrade my browser because frequently when I try to drop in on Crooks and Liars, it crashes! 😦

Ok, here goes:

Yesterday’s intended post

A Christian Liberal Perspective has a post on Bob Woodward’s new book which has some shocking comments from Dubya.

Feministe has an important post everyone should see. Get a load of this, when Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, rape victims were required to pay for their own rape kits (collection of forensic evidence). This happens in other places, but we are focusing on Palin’s record here. She probably could have done something about this, but didn’t. Why does Palin hate women?

MOMocrats has an awesome guest posting from a 96 year old grandma who talks about what it was like to vote for the first time 75 years ago, and reminds all of us that we need to get our butts to the polls!

Racialicious linked to an interesting Salon.com article which compares Palin’s positions on key issues to Islamic fundementalism…

Reappropriate has a thoughtful post about embryonic stem cell research.

The blogger at Season of the Bitch adds her thoughts to Little Light’s post about the police state.

Today’s linkage

Marcella at abyss2hope expounds on where the anti-choice arguement that great people in our society are sometimes born as the result of rape winds up.

Crooks and Liars has a post on this yucky Faux News “analyst’s” homophobic remarks against the awesome Rachel Maddow.

There’s a thoughtful post at Feministe urging lipstick feminists to be conscious of where we get our clothing, accessories, and beauty products from. We might be adding to the suffering of other women, or to animals.

This one’s for the barf bag: MOMocrats has a video clip of Meghan McCain callously insisting that no one knows the impact of the war like her family does. How ’bout we start with the families of the 4000+ people of our military who’ve been killed in Iraq, shall we Meghan? And that’s just the tip of the iceberg! I should note that the MOMocrats have added their personal and powerful responses to Meghan’s boneheaded comment.

Natalia Antonova has a great and snark-filled response to the idiot who tried to derail her powerful post on the trafficking of Russian women with a whine about Russian “mail-order brides” who leave the Americans they marry…

Racialicious has a guest post from Angry Asian Man about racial stereotypes in the new TV show “Samurai Girl.”

And finally, A Christian Liberal Perspective has an excellent post on Christian fundamentalists trying to spread “democracy.”

French media censorship linkage and more.

This morning I was interested (and saddened) to learn that evidently Nicolas Sarkozy is exerting too much influence on French media, and many French journalists have taken to blogging after being pushed out of other forms of media. There’s an old but good article on that, and I also found this interesting blog article on the Sarkozy government censoring an award-winning film which dealt with issues of poverty, abortion, and choice.

Feministe continues to do a good job of exposing the negative connections that Sarah Palin’s church has. This time they write about her church’s connections to Love Won Out and the ex-gay movement.

Christian Liberal has some hard questions for Evangelical Christians about support for George W. Bush and his agenda.

MOMocrats has an interesting post about what Republicans really mean when they throw the “elitism” meme around. I’m not sure I agree with everything said, but it’s still worth reading and thinking about!

There is a very good and very scary post at Taking Steps about the police brutality/torture allegations that followed the Republican convention. Tip o’ the hat to Season of the Bitch for insisting everyone read Little Light’s post.

Crooks and Liars reports on John McCain dodging questions about why so few people of color have or want anything to do with the Republican party.

White Trash Academic has a really good post on disparities in education.

And finally, just an interesting little link, Geezer Butler from Black Sabbath/Heaven & Hell has denounced Sarah Palin’s hunting practices. Tip of the hat to the Megadeth.com boards… 😉

Pakistani elections linkage and more.

Hi there, time for another collection of linkage! 🙂

Pakistan recently elected Asif Ali Zardari (widower of the late Benazir Bhutto) President of Pakistan. Here is a frustrated post from PoliticsPakistan.com, and here’s a lengthy article at Sikander Hayat’s World.

Christian Liberal has a great reminder to American Christians to be charitable and civil when debating about our election.

Crooks and Liars posted a commentary by Gloria Steinem reminding Hillary voters and everyone on the fence that Sarah Palin is nothing like Hillary.

Feministe has a post about some anti-Semetic and barf-bag worthy comments made by a Jews for Jesus leader who was speaking at Sarah Palin’s church.

MOMocrats compare Barack Obama and John McCain’s plans with regard to the Iraq War.

Racialicious has a good post about the show Exiled, which takes the spoiled, privileged brats from My Sweet Sixteen, and sends them to the Third World. Racialicious poster Latoya spoke to Newsweek about how this show dehumanizes the people living in the Third World.

Season of the Bitch has a post on why policing women’s femininity is a bad response to patriarchal abuse.

And Women’s Space has a powerful post with artwork and commentary on the prostitution of Iraqi girls and women in Syria and other refugee locations. Please note, if you are a survivor of sexual violence, this might *trigger* you.

Why we should be concerned about Sarah Palin and reproductive health.

There are a lot of reasons to be concerned about Sarah Palin’s positions on women’s reproductive health, and we don’t need to drag her daughter into this, so we won’t.

Instead, it needs to be brought out into the open that Palin’s views are clear in some areas of reproductive health, and in others, not so much. For starters, Palin has made it very clear that she is opposed to abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest. In 2006, when Palin was the gubernatorial candidate for Alaska, she stated that she would oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest, even if it was her daughter who had been assaulted.

It’s interesting to me to note that the AP article I’ve linked states that Cindy McCain is in disagreement with Palin about denying rape and incest victims the right to choose after the right to choose had already been stripped from them by the perpetrator.

Abortion is something that I genuinely hate, but you would be hard-pressed to find me wanting to impose my will upon women who have already been imposed upon enough already. I don’t feel right about the idea I should be making decisions for women who’ve concieved through consentual sex either. I find it alarming that Palin thinks it is her right to force someone who has been raped already to undergo a second rape if they cannot or do not want to endure carrying the pregnancy to term.

And yet, this is just one thing to worry about when it comes to Palin and reproductive rights.

The Huffington Post blogger I’ve linked to also makes the following claim about Palin and birth control:

“Palin is a member of the deceptively named “Feminists for Life” who would criminalize not only abortion but the IUD and hormonal birth control methods (e.g. the pill).”

This is very worrisome, as access to contraception and the ability to decide for ourselves whether we want to use it, should be a basic right. Women should be able to decide for ourselves whether we want to be pregnant in the first place, and also be able to decide whether forms of birth control can help us in other ways, such as the treatment of ovarian cancer, PCOS, difficult menstrual cycles, and more. Palin is following in the footsteps of the disasterous Bush administration with its myopic viewpoint that contraception = illicit sex & abortion, and that women have no right to decide whether we get pregnant or not.

One area where things are not quite as clear, is it seems Palin has flip-flopped a little on sex-education. According to Huffington Post, Palin stated in an Eagle Forum questionaire that she supported abstinence-only education, and opposed school-funded comphrensive sex ed. Yet the Los Angeles Times reports that weeks later she was quoted at a debate as saying, “I’m pro-contraception, and I think kids who may not hear about it at home should hear about it in other avenues.”

Hmmm….I like the second answer much better! Kids need to be armed with information. I believe abstinence is a very valid choice; I practice it after all; but knowledge is power, and it gives kids a shot at preventing pregnancies and STDs in the event they decide to go the other route. I would hope that Palin would ignore the Eagle Forum on this one, but I won’t hold my breath. Amazingly, Cindy McCain is more progressive on this issue as well; she feels kids should be taught abstinence *and* about contraception! Whoa!

To wrap this up, all of this raises very serious questions about Palin, her thoughts on reproductive health, and what a John McCain presidency would look like. I gather it wouldn’t be pretty.

Here are some additional links about Palin’s record on reproductive health, teenage mothers, and special needs children:

Crooks and Liars: Sarah Palin slashed funding for teen pregnancy programs

MOMocrats: Sarah Palin slashes funds for special needs children

Pioneer Times Journal/AP: Sen. McCain opposed funding teen pregnancy prevention programs

And also, a really good article from Slate, Bristol’s Choice.

NP: Armored Saint: Book of Blood

Palin linkage and more.

Here’s a small collection of blog linkage. There is a lot being said right now about Sarah Palin and reproductive health, and I think I’d like to chime in on that, but it will probably have to wait as I have work to do.

* Crooks and Liars makes the allegation that Sarah Palin cut funding for teen pregnancy programs; as governor of Alaska, and MOMocrats presented evidence that Palin also cut funding that would help special needs children, during her tenure.

* From the GRRRRR files, Feministe has an article about Rep. Lynn Westmoreland calling Barack and Michelle Obama the very racially loaded word “uppity.” Disgusting, eh? Pass the barf bag!

* Brownfemipower has a very good point about some feminists disdain for grassroots community organizing.

* And to come back to the subject of Sarah Palin, Rachel from Rachel’s Tavern has another good point about how people need to leave Bristol Palin alone.

* Another from the GRRRRRRRR files, Racialicious points out a horrible ad which makes Latinos the country’s boogeypeople yet again. *sigh*

* And lastly, Heart from Women’s Space posts about some folks in Australia’s brilliant (sarcastic here) idea to have women run an 80 meter race in stilettos!

Ok, back to work! 😉

Whoops, I forgot to mention that MOMocrats is a new addition to my blogroll; I dig it!

NP: Falco – Der Kommissar