Feminism, Sexism, Racism; Abortion and Birth Control, Texas; Culture Clash; Delhi, India; Rape; Statutory

Feminism

• Oh feminism, what happened to you?
• Where Feminism Went Wrong—"Has feminism raised the bar so high that women are condemned to fall below it?"
• Do Women Really Want Equality?—"Not one imagined strictly by numbers."
• 'Go Topless' demonstration causes Vancouver chaos as camera-wielding voyeurs descend on scene
• If Femen was set up by a man, where does that leave its topless protests?—"The allegation that Victor Svyatski acts as a svengali to attractive women in the Ukrainian feminist group is depressing news."
• NFL - Female reporters gain acceptance in locker rooms
• Woman denied haircut at men's only barbershop in Westdale—"She says she's also in the midst of filing a complaint with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal."
• Flipside: The broken dialogue on men's rights

Sexism

• Biden knocks 'Neanderthal' House Republicans—"Vice President Biden on Thursday blamed the 'this sort of Neanderthal crowd' in the House for holding up the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act."
• Ex-Perry Aide Tweets Article Declaring Wendy Davis 'Too Stupid To Be Governor'
• To my daughter's high school programming teacher—"My daughter has no interest in taking another programming class, and really, who can blame her. [...] In one short semester, you and her classmates undid all of my years of encouragement."

Racism

• Nina Davuluri brushes off racist criticism after Miss America victory—She's the first winner of Indian descent.
• Racist Threatens Black Woman Walking in Predominately White Neighborhood: 'I'm Going to Rape You and Hang You From a Tree'
• I'm a Black Female Cosplayer And Some People Hate It—"After my pictures started making the rounds on deviantArt, tumblr and 4chan, it became pretty clear that my cosplay brings all the racists to the yard, and they're like…white cosplay is better than yours."

Abortion and Birth Control

• Pro-life groups don't really protect the unborn—"Pro-life groups funnel tremendous resources into a legal war against abortion in the US without providing adequate practical support for women to maintain pregnancies. Yet not being able to afford a child is one of the main reasons women have abortions."
• Teen birth rate hits historic low, federal report says—"[T]here is evidence that a switch to more effective means of birth control is a factor."
• Woman Sues Over Transvaginal Ultrasound: 'It Felt Like I Was Being Raped'
• Right Before The Holiday Weekend, Iowa Quietly Eliminated Abortion Access For Low-Income Women
• Abortion Clinics Close Quickly As State Laws Tighten
• How the Koch Bros. Secretly Fund Anti-Choice Efforts
• Sir David Attenborough warns things will only get worse—"People should be persuaded against having large families, says the broadcaster and naturalist."

Texas

• Texas: Documents Still Show No Evidence of Excrement at Abortion Debate
• Perot Foundation announces $1 million gift to Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas
• Texas AG Candidate Barry Smitherman: End Abortion Now or Suffer Biblical Plagues

Culture Clash

• Kurdish men in drag promote feminism in the region
• Saudi Arabia cabinet passes ban on domestic violence
• Female Indian author shot dead by Taliban in Paktika province
• Brothers hang to death 17-year-old girl for eloping with dalit youth
• Yemen: 8 year old girl dies from internal injuries on wedding night—This has got to stop.

Delhi

• Delhi gang-rape: four men sentenced to death—The prosecutors said they deserved the death penalty, and they weren't the only ones.
• Delhi gang rape: Teenager found guilty—"The teenager, who cannot be named, has been sentenced to three years in a reform facility, the maximum term possible for a juvenile."
• I would have burnt my daughter alive for premarital sex: Delhi gang-rape lawyer

India

• India's code of silence over sexual abuse
• Police Officer Gang-Raped Escorting Dead Sister in India
• Daughter gang-raped, wife killed; man moves SC seeking protection
• Six-year-old rape victim ordered to wed rapist's 8-year-old son
• Rapist dies after victim's family members burn him alive

Rape

• Maldives: Girl rape victim to be spared outrageous flogging sentence
• No Charges for Texas Father Who Beat to Death Daughter's Molester
• Pope phones Argentine woman who wrote to him about rape
• California Governor Jerry Brown Signs Law Closing Loophole That Allows Rape Of Unmarried Women
• Aggressive tactics highlight the rigors of military rape cases—"Some lawmakers want to civilian courts to try military sexual assault cases."
• St. Mary's University Students' Pro-Rape Chant Condemned After 5 Years Of Use
• Study shows 1 in 4 men in 6 Asian countries have admitted raping a woman—"Of those who acknowledged forcing a woman to have sex, more than 70 percent of men said it was because of 'sexual entitlement.' Nearly 60 percent said they were bored or wanted to have fun while about 40 percent said it was because they were angry or wanted to punish the woman. Only about half of the men said they felt guilty and 23 percent had been imprisoned for a rape."

Statutory

• Florida teen rearrested for having sex with underage classmate—"Kaitlyn Hunt, the teenage Florida lesbian who made headlines earlier this year after being expelled from school and arrested for allegedly having sex with her 15 year old girlfriend, has been rearrested."
• Montana judge's remarks about raped teen prompt outrage—"A Montana judge who said a 14-year-old rape victim was 'as much in control of the situation' as the man who assaulted her has come under pressure to resign."
• Texas girl, 10, charged with rape after playing 'doctor' in game

World Population Day, War on Sex, Texas Abortion, Birth Control; Sexism, Gender Issues, Rape; Surveillance and Privacy, Tech Tracking

World Population Day

• Don't Be Fruitful and Multiply
• This summer's blockbusters are really about overpopulation Salon
• World Population May Reach 11 Billion By 2100

War on Sex

• Maher: GOP Hates Plan B and HPV Vaccine Because They Remove God's Punishment For Sluts
• You Have To Wonder About A Guy Who Keeps Trying To Criminalize Oral Sex
• India: Couples who have premarital sex to be considered 'married,' says HC—For "any unmarried couple of the right legal age "indulge in sexual gratification..." Will this apply to s even if the sexual gratification is one-sided?

Texas Abortion

• Texas House approves sweeping abortion restrictions
• Young Woman Has EPIC Rant in TX Abortion Hearings. Gets Hauled Off By State Troopers.
• Texans Call Out Rick Perry: If You Want To Reduce Abortions, Then Back Sex Ed
• Texas Americans for Prosperity Director: Pro-Choice Women Should 'Choose Sterilization'
• Author of Texas Abortion Bill Once Argued Against Care For Pregnant Women Because Babies 'Not Born Yet'
• Scandal in Texas as Rick Perry's Abortion Bill Means Big Money for His Sister
• Flipside: My Proposal for a Bill That Bans Male Masturbation in Texas

Birth Control

• Repairing the Damage, Before Roe—"There are few physicians today who can relate to the 'bad old days' before Roe v. Wade. I can." NYT
• If my Vagina shot bullets, could I conceal it from Rick Perry and John Kasich?
• Scott Walker Quietly Signs Bill Requiring Ultrasounds For Wisconsin Abortions—His under-the-table move has been temporarily blocked.
• North Carolina House Republicans sneak abortion rules into motorcycle safety bill without notice
• Chilean president praises raped girl, 11, for going through with pregnancy—"Concern for child's welfare as Sebastián Pinera, who supports ban on abortion, says decision shows 'depth and maturity.'" He better make sure all her medical bills will be take care of.
• 35,000 march in Dublin to oppose Ireland's abortion bill before key parliamentary vote—Which is getting delayed.
• Philippines: Some RH haters think to masturbate is murder—'"I've heard [the argument by anti-RH advocates] that for a man to masturbate is 'murder,' and so to say that that it is 'genocide,' then it tells us what kind of discussion we have."

Sexism

• Male Fox News guest to female Democratic consultant: "Know your role and shut your mouth" Salon
• News Coverage of Female Politicians Focuses on Personality, Males on the Issues
• Jimmy Carter: Women's Plight Perpetuated By World Religions

Gender Issues

• TV producer douses teen actress in acid after she refuses his marriage proposal
• Helmand's top female police officer shot dead—"The most senior female police officer in Afghanistan's Helmand province, and a symbol of improving women's rights in the face of Taliban hostility, has been shot dead."
• Bollywood star in baby sex selection controversy—"Sex determination tests are banned in India, and elsewhere in Asia, due to a traditional preference for sons.
• Iran swimmer's time goes unrecorded: "Her bathing suit was too revealing"—"They said the feminine features of my body were showing as I came out of water."
• Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval—"Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals..." and that "prison medical staff coerced the women, targeting those deemed likely to return to prison in the future."
• Swedish Women Drop Burkas and Enter Stockholm Mosque Bare-Breasted; Pandemonium Ensues
• Women challenge men in Pakistan's first female jirga—"When 16-year-old Tahira was murdered in a horrific acid attack last year, her poverty-stricken parents got no justice. Pakistan officials slammed the door in their faces and the police refused to listen. The prime suspect – the girl's abusive husband – lived in freedom until the case was taken up by Pakistan's first female jirga, a community assembly set up to win justice for women in the face of immense discrimination."

Rape

• Sweden's Top Court Rules Muslim Man Raped Woman After he Performed a Forced 'Infidelity Check'
• Victim receives 101 lashes for becoming pregnant—"A 16-year-old girl who was d in Bangladesh has been given 101 lashes for conceiving during the assault."
• "Sue me if you dare. My father is Li Gang!"—"The son of a Chinese general has been charged with rape, state media said, in a case that has sparked public anger over the seemingly privileged lives of elite youths."
• Ukraine Police Unit Stormed After Brutal Rape—"Angry residents in a town in southern Ukraine stormed the local police headquarters after authorities refused to detain one of two police officers implicated in the brutal gang-rape of a young woman."
• Libya aiming to make rape in armed conflict a war crime—"The testimony of a woman who was sexually tortured under the Gaddafi regime is proving a catalyst for political change in Libya."
• Convicted Steubenville teen classified as sex offender
• Why Don't Cops Believe Rape Victims?—"Brain science helps explain the problem—and solve it."

Surveillance and Privacy

• Snowden: I never gave any information to Chinese or Russian governments
• Snowden Seen as Whistle-Blower by Majority in New Poll
• Reform the FISA Court: Privacy Law Should Never Be Radically Reinterpreted in Secret
• No more 'secrets': an important case against NSA spying takes a big step forward
• Obama executive order requires federal government employees to learn to spy on co-workers, to prevent more WikiLeaks-type disclosures

Tech Tracking

• The NSA slide you haven't seen—Everything gets sucked "Upstream".
• What the gov't pays industry to snoop—"How much are your private conversations worth to the government? Turns out, it can be a lot, depending on the technology."
• Yahoo wants Fisa objections revealed—"Company says court papers would show the public it fought strenuously against intelligence agencies accessing its data."
• HP admits to backdoors in storage products
• Data Brokers Are Now Selling Your Car's Location For $10 Online

Year of the Snake; Dorner; Holocaust; Slavery; Egypt; Rape; Horsemeat

Year of the Snake

• China's People Problem
• IMF sees 140m jobs shortage in ageing China as 'Lewis Point' hits—"China’s vast reserve of cheap workers in the hinterland is vanishing at a vertiginous pace."
• 'Little emperors': Study says Chinese born under one-child policy cautious, less competitive
• Chinese Blogger Thrives in Role of Muckraker—"Zhu Ruifeng, who became a celebrity of sorts after posting online a sex video involving a government official, says he will release more videos involving others." NYT
• 'Pants' skyscraper? China reacts against latest tall building

Dorner

• Police: 3 dead after ex-cop vows 'war' on other police, their families—"Dorner blames one retired officer for bungling his appeal to get his job back in an 11-page manifesto, in which he also complained of mistreatment by the LAPD. In that letter -- provided to CNN by an LAPD source -- he vowed to violently target police officers and their families, whoever and wherever they are."
• Police shoot two in Torrance in search for ex-LAPD cop—"Neither incident actually involved the suspect" in the vehicle "similar to the one sought by authorities in a massive manhunt."
• Support Growing For Former L.A. Officer Accused Of Killing Spree

Holocaust

• Berlusconi praises Mussolini on Holocaust Memorial Day
• 'Holocaust was a myth invented by U.S': Aide to Egyptian President Morsi triggers outrage with claim six million 'dead' Jews had simply moved to America
• National Review outraged that Obama called Holocaust 'senseless violence'

Slavery

• Slavery's Global Comeback—"150 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, buying and selling people into forced labor is bigger than ever. What 'human trafficking' really means."
• Selling little girls to pay back debt
• Burmese refugees sold on by Thai officials
• Report due on Magdalene laundries—"Over the 74 years, thousands of single mothers and other women were put to work in detention, mostly in industrial for-profit laundries run by nuns from four religious congregations. Each woman had her Christian name changed, her surname unused and most have since died.
• Irish the 'forgotten white slaves' says expert John Martin

Egypt

• Scores injured in anti-government protests in Egypt
• Egypt court suspends YouTube over anti-Islam film
• Revolution, Interrupted—"There's a reason Egyptians keep taking to the streets: The Muslim Brotherhood has proved to be little more than the old Mubarak clique with beards."

Rape

• Somali woman who alleged rape sentenced to one year—"A journalist who interviewed her was also sentenced."
• I Was Wounded; My Honor Wasn't—"Rape is horrible, but not because you lose your virtue or shame your family." NYT
• Raping women in Tahrir NOT 'red line': Egyptian preacher Abu Islam
• India police arrest 6 in new bus gang-rape
• Minor consent, major crime—Indian Supreme Court overturns the travesty of justice in the Suryanelli case which placed the blame on the girl.
• Freed from jail, man rapes, murders 9-year-old girl—After being acquitted for the rape and murder of another 9-year-old girl.
• Outcry over India gang rape shames some in South Africa

Horsement

• Meat industry under scrutiny as horsemeat scandal spreads
• Aldi confirms up to 100% horsemeat in beef products—"Supermarket says it is angry with supplier Comigel after tests reveal 30% and 100% horsemeat in withdrawn ready meals."
• Horsemeat scandal blamed on international fraud by mafia gangs

World Population Day, Climate Change, Heat Wave, Environment, Fracking, Australia, Ecology

World Population Day: Is a human 'population bomb' ticking?--"Scientists warn that overpopulation and consumption could lead to a forbidding future."

Climate Change

• Schneiderman crushes Koch Brothers in climate-change lawsuit
• The Great German Energy Experiment--"Germany has decided to pursue ambitious greenhouse-gas reductions—while closing down its nuclear plants. Can a heavily industrialized country power its economy with wind turbines and solar panels?"
• In Rising Use of Air-Conditioning, Hard Choices--"Gases that damage the ozone layer are mostly out of use in air-conditioning, but replacements used in developing countries are potent agents of global warming."
• Scientists attribute extreme weather to man-made climate change
• Climate change drives salmon evolution--"Salmon DNA records stretching back over 30 years show that nature has increasingly selected for fish that migrate from the ocean earlier in the year. It is among the first pieces of genetic evidence that climate change is driving the evolution of a species."
• Chihuahua: Where the rain doesn't fall any more--"A record drought in northern Mexico has prompted warnings that the region's climate may have changed for good."
• Rise in sea level can't be stopped, scientists say

Heat Wave

• U.S. Sees Hottest 12 Months And Hottest Half Year On Record
• US record heatwave leaves dozens dead
• US wildfires are what global warming really looks like, scientists warn
• 2011 Texas drought was 20 times more likely due to warming, study says
• Feeling the heat--"Still don’t believe in climate change? Then you’re either deep in denial or delirious from the heat."

Environment

• The Daily Show Uncovers Corporate Conspiracy -- And a Big Revolving Door -- Behind Simplot's Water Contamination
• Don't Scuttle The U.S. Navy's Biofuels Program
  
• Senate Blocks Attempt to Overturn EPA Emissions Standards
• Hungary's Thick Red Line--"Spanish photographer Palíndromo Mészáros documented the effects of a massive toxic aluminum spill in Hungary."
• Mexico axes Baja resort over environmental fears--"Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he is cancelling the construction of a huge tourist resort in Baja California over concerns it could damage a nearby marine reserve."

Fracking

• Confirmed: Fracking can pollute--"A new study explodes the gas industry's claim that fracking won't contaminate local drinking water." Salon
• North Carolina Lawmaker Presses Wrong Button, Accidentally Legalizes Fracking--Thankfully for her, the NC governor vetoed the bill.
• New Anti-Fracking Film by Gasland's Josh Fox Targets Cuomo: 'Governor, What Color Will the Sky Be Over New York?'

Australia

• Shallow and transparent? Australia's ocean protection plan comes under fire
• Australia creates world's biggest marine park, bans drilling
• Australia introduces controversial carbon tax

Ecology

• 20,000 sea turtle eggs crushed by heavy machinery on Trinidad beach
• 21 Nations Block Effort to Turn Southern Atlantic Into Giant Whale Sanctuary
• We’re destroying the seas--"As big fish dwindle from the oceans, swordfish, tuna and marlin could disappear." Salon

Occupy Wall Street, Scott Olsen, Occupy Oakland, Confrontations, 7 Billion

Occupy Wall Street

• Taibbi: Wall Street isn't winning, it's cheating
• Frank Rich on Occupy Wall Street and Class Warfare
• The study that shows why Occupy Wall Street struck a nerve
• The real reason OWS terrifies conservatives--"It's not the dirty hippies. It's because the protesters could find natural allies in the Tea Party." Salon
• How OWS confuses and ignores Fox News and the pundit class--"One of the best things about Occupy Wall Street is the way it confuses and ignores the shrill pundit class."
  
• The Stunning Victory That Occupy Wall Street Has Already Achieved--"In just one month, the protesters have shifted the national dialogue from a relentless focus on the deficit to a discussion of the real issues facing Main Street."
• Glenn Greenwald on Occupy Wall Street, Banks Too Big to Jail and the Attack on WikiLeaks
• Goldman Sachs and Occupy Wall Street's bank: the real story
• Occupy Wall Street's Most Unlikely Ally: The Pope
• Solidarity from Ken Jennings

Scott Olsen

• How the Wounding of a Vet Who Dared to Dissent Has Stirred More Dissent
• Despite Iraq Vet’s Cracked Skull, DoJ Sees No Evil in Occupy Crackdown--Watch an Oakland Policeman throwing a flash grenade into a crowd trying to help an injured protester.
• Scott Olsen 'cannot talk' after injury at Occupy Oakland protest

Occupy Oakland

• What Happened at Occupy Oakland
• Oakland protesters re-"Occupy" plaza
• Egyptians march from Tahrir Square to support Occupy Oakland protestors

Confrontations

• Wall Street Firms Spy on Protesters in Tax-Funded Center--"In a secretive government facility Wall Street firms get to sit alongside the New York Police Department and spy on law-abiding citizens."
• New York City Pulls the Plug on Zuccotti Park's Power--And they also confiscated the generators just when temperatures in NY are starting to drop.
• NY Cops defy orders to break up #OccupyAlbany demonstrations
• San Diego Police Take Over Occupy San Diego – at least 44 Arrested
• Occupy Nashville Protesters Claim Victory, Return to Plaza

7 Billion

• When will the 7 billionth human be born?--In two days, it seems.
• Why current population growth is costing us the Earth
• China's one-child policy means many benefits for parents – if they follow the rules