Dr. Erik Keroack (pro-abstinence Bush appointee who famously asserted that pre-marital sex would lower Oxycontin levels in the brain, and then you'll never be able to love anyone ever) will no longer oversee the program to provide birth control to low-income women. Someone qualified will replace him immediately, and Keroack will no doubt go back to telling minors lies about condoms and sex.

The United Kingdom branch of Amnesty International, once neutral on abortion issues, now supports safe, legal abortions around the world. "In response to current repressive abortion laws, however, AIUK has changed its position in order to continue protecting women's freedom, reproductive and sexual health, and human rights." 
Pro-lifers don't want to hear that crap about rights: "Abortion can never be described as a 'right…' [It] is a needless act of violence that kills babies and hurts women." Evidence shows that lack of clean water, war crimes, unsanitary and unsafe deliveries, and fistuals hurt women more. But who wants to protect those already living?

North Dakota is showing more and more that it's about abortion obsession is not about protecting the unborn or anyone else. Otherwise, anti-abortionists would want teenage girls to have prenatal care for their precious unborn, no matter what. But they don't. Underage girls need their parents' consent for that, too — or they go without, putting their own health and the health of their unborn babies in jeopardy. This is not about the unborn — this is about state control over your body and what you choose to do with it.

The same goes for Missouri. Governor Matt Blunt has cut all funding to Planned Parenthood centers — including the majority which do not even provide abortions but provide cancer screenings for women who otherwise would not have access. So, even if you're not seeking birth control, are not pregnant, or don't want an abortion, you will not be screened for a deadly disease as early as possible. Pro-life indeed.

"Researchers in Sweden…have found that equality could be associated with poorer health for both men and women." But the Harvard School of Public Health says: "We conclude that women experience higher mortality and morbidity in states where they have lower levels of political and economic autonomy. Living in such states has detrimental consequences for the health of men as well."

Another Harvard study: "…women who resided in states with high reproductive rights scored…lower [for depression]…compared with women who lived in states with lower reproductive rights. Gender inequality appears to contribute to depressive symptoms in women."

Well, I don't know about the rest of you ladies, but these results trump all others for me: "More Orgasms for Single Women."

For more studies on gender equality and happiness levels, see the Google search results.

Jennifer Leblanc

I've never liked Katie Couric. She was mildly irritating on the Today Show. She's absolutely out of her element on CBS Nightly News. Back when the talk of a woman anchor was going around, I was rooting for Christiane Amanpour — a real journalist. Amanpour would have never opened her first newscast by announcing pictures of the new Cruise/Holmes baby — which is when I turned off Katie Couric and never went back. If Couric wanted to prove her nightly news cred, she should've had the sense to veto any and all entertainment drivel. Entertainment Tonight is after your show, sweetie.

Now, on top of poor ratings, Couric has to deal with angry viewers. Apparently her interview with John and Elizabeth Edwards did not go over well. Couric doesn't approve of their decision to still try for the White House with Elizabeth's cancer recurrence. But it's really not her business to judge how someone chooses to battle a disease, no matter how many times Katie may flaunt her colon on TV for a cause. ♦

Over at the New York Times, there's a definitive headline: "Poor Behavior is Linked to Time in Daycare." You know what that means, ladies — you get your uterus out of that workplace and back in the kitchen. It's all your career-minded fault that we have little devils running amok.

I don't have children. I have a spark of a career going. And I have mighty opinions. So how about if we take a look at how kids are dealt with rather than where. Has anyone else lately heard a parent say to a child, "we'll make a compromise"? Have you seen the child with half the control then finish out the raging fit anyway? I'm going to sound old, but back when I was a kid, there was no compromise. You did what the adult said, because you were two feet high and your brain was far less developed, which meant you had no say. I'm a spare-the-rod type — I was never hit. But I was also raised by an adult who did not compromise with a tot. ♦

Now let's look at people who are actually changing the democratic process…by making lame videos.

On Monday night, the Justice Department delivered to Congress more than 3,000 pages of emails, memos, and other records about the firing of eight U.S. attorneys. The handover came so late that many news organizations had to scramble to try to skim a few headlines from the files before late-night deadlines. According to The New York Sun:

"Despite the late hour, readers of a liberal website, tpmmuckraker.com, tackled the task with gusto. They quickly began grabbing 50-page chunks of the scanned documents from a House of Representatives Internet server, analyzing them, and excerpting them. The first post about the Department of Justice records hit the left-leaning news and commentary site at 1:04 a.m. Within half an hour, there were 50 summaries posted by readers gleaning the documents. By 4:30 a.m., more than 220 postings were up detailing various aspects of the files."

And that's how you get your hands dirty. ♦

Jennifer Leblanc

I only discovered feminist blogs (specifically, Pandagon, Feministe, and Feministing) a year and a half ago. I've always had a feminist side, and the Bush administration only brought it closer to the surface. But, like with anything else one wishes to learn about in society, the vast amount of information, opinion, analysis, and current events was too daunting to tackle while going about a non-academic life. I settled for Planned Parenthood's updates. Then feminist bloggers came along and made it quick, accessible. It's so convenient to stop in once a day and learn, oh, this bill in the Senate will make it more difficult for a woman to… If you had more time, there were also the 2,000-word posts and links to lengthy articles. They have opened up a world of knowledge about how domestic and international laws can hinder a woman's life and what can be done about it. But once in a while, I can only roll my eyes and wonder, "Is it a slow news day?"

Last Sunday the NYT ran a story about female soldiers suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder due to the war and sexual harrassment or assault from fellow soldiers. The story was excellent. The few pictures dispersed throughout of the women were, to my eyes, plain. Zuzu of Feministe and Lindsay of Majikthise, however, see sexism, pin-up parodies, and miserable faces.

Take, for instance, this photo:

From Lindsay: "Why would you get a woman in jeans and a t-shirt to pose like a swimsuit model on a beach in order to illustrate a story about how she got PTSD in Iraq and went AWOL?"

Um, what if she insisted on posing that way? What if this was the best shot? What if the photo editor chose this one? Or, what if everyone involved cared more about the content of the story instead of what anyone may read into a single photo? She goes even more improbably for the next one:

"There's something weirdly sexualized about this image. Look at the angle of the shot. She's wearing a knee-length skirt, but she's positioned so that her bare legs and daintily flexed ankle command as much attention as her face."

There is nothing sexualized about this image. This is a tramautized woman wearing her uniform and sitting in a sparse setting. Where her hand is placed or however her ankle may be turned mean nothing.

"…it doesn't seem like [the photographer] Grannan intended to make her subjects to appear happy or comfortable in the positions she chose for them." So, when you have a story about women who  wanted to serve their country only to be raped by comrades, ignored by superiors when reporting it, then screwed by the government when they come home scarred and broken, you're supposed to have pictures of smiling, happy-looking subjects?

Zuzu chimes in: "Her gaze is almost hostile, her arms look like she didn’t know what to do with them, and her legs are pressed together in a way that suggests she’s a construction worker who’s not very comfortable wearing her dress uniform skirt."

How is this woman supposed to look comfortable? She's telling the entire world details of her ordeal? And can we pick one — either this woman's "dainty" ankle is meant to be sexy, or her entire legs evoke a utilitarian construction worker? Pin-up or laborer?

Hasn't one of the main complaints of feminism always been that people focus too much on the physical images of women instead of who they are as human beings? Sometimes sexism is just in the eye of the beholder.

Even if these photos were "sexualized," intentionally or not, that is besides the point. Cerrtain feminist bloggers are the only people who read this story and focused on the possible suggestiveness of the images.

Instead of focusing on something meaningless and opinion-based, why don't feminist bloggers concentrate on doing something about the situation? Why not start a fund for some of these women to get help? Why not promote the health center in California? Contact lawmakers about the gigantic problem of sexual assault in the military, the lack of punishment rapists receive, and the insult to injury the female soldiers endure? Is there really nothing else to be done besides blather on about how someone is posed?

Here's what this story was really about: "Taking into account the large number of women serving in dangerous conditions in Iraq and reports suggesting that women in the military bear a higher risk than civilian women of having been sexually assaulted either before or during their service, it's conceivable that this war may well generate an unfortunate new group to study — women who have experienced sexual assault and combat, many of them before they turn 25." (NYT).

The world, men and women, can deal with this situation and support these women, or we can criticize their looks, posture, and whether or not they smile like good little girls for the camera. ♦

Jennifer Leblanc

I don’t like Phil de Vellis.

You may not recognize his name, but you know his work — the YouTube hit of Hillary Clinton’s talking head in Apple’s 1984 commercial. He meant to show support for Barack Obama, whose campaign has been taking heat from day one over the video, insisting no one connected to them had anything to do with the video. But de Vellis was connected, distantly, as an employee of an Internet strategy firm hired by Obama. Now DeVellis has written a letter for The Huffington Post outing himself. He claims he politely resigned; we all know he was fired.

His confession has an arrogant, self-congratulatory tone: “I wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the [political] process…This ad was not the first citizen ad, and it will not be the last. The game has changed.” De Vellis seems to think he’s doing something new or telling us something we don’t know. Instead, he appears to be jumping up and down in the crowd yelling, “Look at me, I’m special too — I’m the next Kos!”

I found one aspect of the video especially hypocritical. De Vellis chose the Orwellian scenes to protest Clinton’s establishment position — power to the people! Think for yourself! But on the commercial rebel’s waist sits an iPod. I supposed De Vellis hasn’t heard of iPod city — the giant sweatshop in China where workers assemble millions of tiny, DRM’d, 10,000-song holding little symbols of corporate control. It doesn’t get more establishment than that.

Hopefully de Vellis will fade back into obscurity and cubicle life at another company. But I fear that, like Judy Miller and Jessica Cutler, he will be rewarded for his cry for attention. There may be a book deal or a political job, and he will probably make more “citizen ads.” Pretty soon he’ll be just another talking head.

Jennifer Leblanc

Every time I hear a Republican saying that Democrats and liberals undermine the troops by demanding that they not get killed for nothing, or by writing articles exposing their pain, I think of how the Republican congress voted, five days before the war began in 2003, in the middle of the night on a Friday when no one would know about it, to cut veterans' benefits by 40%. When I think of troop morale, I think of the troops' first Thanksgiving in Iraq, when the President showed up with a full feast. But once the cameras were gone, the turkey and the chicken-in-charge were packed back onto the plane and the troops hit the desert again without so much as a cranberry. I also think of Mr. Rumsfeld telling a soldier asking why they didn't have enough armor and protection — well, we don't have any, so tough. I read the WaPo article on Walter Reed. The blog written by an injured soldier inside the center is just as heartbreaking.

"The stress has come from being here. From being inside these four-gated walls. From seeing what becomes of the broken soldiers. We go from being the team leader to just a specialist. We go from being convoy commanders to being just another sergeant. We are broken down by our name, rank, and sex; sometimes even our injuries. And that is the sum of who we are. We are what has been cropped from the canvas. We are the cost of war." (via boingboing)

The first two tidbits were provided by What We've Lost by Graydon Carter back in 2004. Imagine what else we've lost in the three years since.♦

The literary giants from Latin America had a 30-year feud over a woman. I expected more from these two.♦

It's Sunshine Week. For those of you who don't know:

"Sunshine Week is a national initiative to open a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include print, broadcast, and online news media, civic groups, libraries, non-profits, schools, and others interested in the public's right to know." (From sunshineweek.org.)

Jennifer Leblanc

Alternet has an article up about the parallels between the movie 300 and the Republican-backed war. Even as a liberal, feminist Democrat, I still want to groan — enough already. It's. A. Moo-vie. Just like 24 is a TV show. So was V For Vendetta (does anyone even remember that one anymore, besides Natalie Portman bald?). Is this all we have to talk about? Out of everything happening in the world today, this week, this is what you choose to use your degree and access to a wide audience for? ♦

Jennifer Leblanc

From Yahoo news: "A journalist [Ivan Safronov] who fell to his death from a fifth-story window had received threats while gathering material for a report claiming Russia planned to provide sophisticated weapons to Syria and Iran, his newspaper said Tuesday."

Maybe the Russian government doesn't even consider journalists worth the bullets anymore.

When in France, hide your cameraphone: "The French Constitutional Council has approved a law that criminalizes the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists."

This next piece happened here in America, in my own backyard, and it's disgusting: "Children stranded after immigration raid." I'm sure the same Republicans who endorse this kind of action against immigrants are the same ones who believe in family values and children having two parents. Well, now 100 children, including some infants, in New Bedford, Mass., do not. If one of the arrested happened to be the sole guardian of a child, he or she was released. The others could either place their children in foster care or with a friend or relative. Well, how accomodating and thoughtful. Wait, there's more — the company charged with employing (and treating inhumanely) these immigrants is Michael Bianco Inc., which manufactured "high-end leather goods for retailers including Coach Inc. and Timberland Co. before landing a $9.4 million military contract in 2003 to make survival vests." Do I really need to say more?

Jennifer Leblanc

CNN.com reports that Pizza Hut's Book It program is being "denounced" by critics for encouraging unhealthy eating habits. I was once a well-read and well-fed child on that program. Although I don't remember the specifics, basically you read a book, get a gold star, and with enough gold stars, you earn pizza. It's win-win.
Pizza Hut and their plump, calorie-laden slices are not the problem. Food like that never hurt anyone, big or small — if it's occasional and a reward for feeding the mind with a book. Give kids normal, healthy food otherwise and send them outside to play like we did back in my day (now I feel old. But when was the last time you saw kids on skateboards or building forts?), and there's no problem. Denying a child books and pizza — that's just wrong.

Yahoo News writes about homeschoolers having easier access to higher education, specifially private colleges and universities. Apparently, public schools are still difficult to get into if you were homeschooled (tell me about it), but there are just too many such students. Accommodations have to be made in the admissions office. I wish this had been the case back in the dark ages of homeschooling that was the 90s when I started. But I'm thrilled that the best opportunities are being offered now.

I've just learned that I. Lewis Libby has been found guilty of "obstruction, perjury, and lying to the FBI." I'm going to go jump up and down now.

Jennifer Leblanc

Finally, an article saying that you girls can get yourself hitched, and be happy, even if you gots yourself some book learnin'. Of course, we could also ignore these types of articles, no matter which side they take, and live our lives the way we want anyway. I'm going to take that path. I'll let you know how it works out in about 50 years.

Jennifer Leblanc

I don't focus on entertainment, but I would just like to say: if Jennifer Hudson does not win tomorrow night, I will never go to the movies again. That's all.
Now, Mr. Obama – thank you for finally having the balls to say such things. At this point, you have my vote.

Jennifer Leblanc

I've reviewed many terrible books before, but Bridie Clark's Because She Can is right on top of that pile. The title is fitting — this book was only published because Clark could.

Years of experience in the publishing industry nearly guaranteed her this book deal. The fact that she chose to rip off the bad-boss genre and exploit her time with now-ousted Judith Regan helped. Anyone is free to do something because they can. But that doesn't mean they should. This book should not have been published.

Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan quit the Edwards campaign. I don't blame them or judge them for "giving in." I can't imagine what the stress of a witch hunt must be like, even if they have been going on for centuries. I only wish them the best, and to one day have the power to fight things like this.

If you get a chance, check out their websites. Do yourself a favor — ignore their language if it offends you, brush up on your reading comprehension, and look for their real messages. You may learn something, and you may agree with them.

Jennifer Leblanc

I've avoided writing about or discussing this at all, but if The New Yorker is covering it, I will too. Their current issue has an article about 24 and the politics of the show's creator, Joel Surnow. I only started watching the show this season (it's my new Lost), but as a liberal Democrat, I don't have a problem with it. To me, the show covers both sides of the political spectrum. But in the end, it's still just a TV show.

This next article, however, is not fiction or Hollywood. CNN has a piece about children being trained as assassins in unstable parts of the world. The first image you see — a boy of about 10 aiming an assault rifle — is disturbing enough, but even more so when you read the entire piece.

As seriously as I follow the goings-on of the world we live in, everyone needs a break, too. So instead of warm milk, I suggest a dose of cuteoverload.com before bed.

'Til next time…

Jennifer Leblanc