links for 2009-03-27
March 27, 2009-
Supposing ICE's strategy is indeed effective; there's a separate question policymakers may want to ponder: How have these raids affected the communities involved? The woes of the arrested immigrants are well documented: families torn apart, workers caught in bureaucratic limbo or slapped with souped-up identity-theft charges. But less examined are the impacts on towns and cities that the workers and their families leave behind, and on the Americans whose lives and livelihoods were intertwined with those of the newcomers.
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guardian article incl FT response: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/27/g20-spoof-financial-times-ft
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The short answer is that it is the intersection of transphobia and misogyny that specifically targets trans women. But that dry academic answer never communicates the visceral and intense experience that it is.
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In what to me seems like a clear example of how rape myths contribute to the appallingly low rape conviction rate, a man has been acquitted of raping a woman who he readily admits to having sex with because the judge and jury refused to accept her claim that she was ‘too drunk’ to give consent:
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I can't tell you how many women in their late 20s give birth to their children, then give them up for adoption, but I can tell you that it's a choice made by only about 1 percent of American women of any age. Given that the average age of a first-time American mother is 25, I don't imagine many 28-year-olds consider doing so. Add to that the number of women who decide to adopt out their child to a much-loved family member who would ensure they had lifelong (if potentially emotionally fraught) contact with their child, and you are in blue moon territory.
So why make those two statistical unicorns stand in for any number of experiences vastly more common among American women? I can't shake the feeling that the piece subtly reinforces a message that seems more and more prominent lately — so long as there are loving, infertile people out there who wish for a child, abortion is immoral.
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Now, as unemployment is on the rise and freelance work and part-time jobs are replacing many full-time ones, more of us are spending more time in home offices (or in the tiny nooks that often pass for them). We may be spending less on furnishing them, but the demand for ways to make these spaces make sense has probably never been higher.
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The failure of the Sapphire units in all three of these cases is shocking. Set up in 2000 as part of a comprehensive reform of police rape investigations, London's 32 Sapphire units are supposed to be centres of excellence, and were designed to improve the conviction rate for rape. The 24-hour investigation teams include specially trained sexual offences investigation officers who arrange medical and forensic examinations and take the victim's initial statement. And it is true that the conviction rate for rape in London has improved since Sapphire was implemented: in 2006 it was 6.4%, compared to 3.6% in 2002.
But the Reid and Worboys cases, and Rebecca's experience, show that serious problems persist.
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In his news conference Tuesday night, President Obama stated that he was willing to be flexible on negotiating the budget for fiscal 2010 with Congress, but that he would stand firmly by his commitment to “health care reform.” It triggers the question of what he and others mean by that term.
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The term white emerged as a classification of
people during the 1700s in the British colonies
of North America. Europeans were immigrating
to “the New World” for many reasons, some seeking
prosperity while many
people were escaping
persecution, particularly
religious and ethnic conflict.
As Europeans arrived
in America, groups such as
Germans, Dutch, English,
French etc. were brought
into close proximity, most
of them for the first time. -
A spokesman said: "We risk creating a generation of adults who will not only lack vital 21st century skills, but who also risk electrocuting themselves while trying to release the tiny people trapped inside their television sets."
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For sex to be consensual and legal there needs to be a clear presence of freely and legally given consent. This is a far different standard than Kittywampus has defined for "real" rape.
If you go to a car dealership and test drive a car, say wonderful things about that car, you have not consented to buy that car simply because you didn't say, "No, I'm not buying this car." It would be absurd to demand that all car shoppers' absence of consent must be clear.
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What motivates Raivo Pommer? Do you have a theory of Raivo Pommer? Is this proof of a multiverse? (Apparently a world with Raivo Pommer is a possible world.) And will he offer a dull report about German banks on this post too?
Here is one man's frustration with Raivo Pommer, worth a read. Here is a Twitter about Raivo Pommer.
If I were ever to write fiction (or a song), my first effort would be about Raivo Pommer.
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Now, before we all start getting riled up about our surrender to Jihadism, it’s worth remembering that this resolution is non-binding and certainly doesn’t spell the end for our right to watch Monty Python films. But it is still a dangerous precedent, and one which demonstrates how increasingly difficult it’s become for the U.N. to satisfy its highest human rights ideals when it’s populated by states intent on practicing the opposite.
Thanks to you for compiling and sharing the list. Very informative.
Joseph