This one's for you, Mom
Topic: Odds and ends
Math + craft = awesome

The best Valentine's gift.
Topic: PSAs

I am strongly opposed to all things Valentine (with the exception of Sarah Vaughan's rendition of "My Funny Valentine"), most especially diamond jewelry and cut flowers. Instead of spending money on industries with negative impacts on human rights and the environment, give a gift that supports women's rights. It's much better than chocolate! 

"Love isn't how you feel.  It's what you do."  - Madeleine L'Engle, A Wind in the Door Show Your Love with an Act of Love this Valentine's Day Support MADRE's work to combat violence against women around the world, and show the person you love just how much you care. Your gift will support women who have survived rape and are moving forward with their lives in Haiti and Kenya, women working to end "honor killing" in Iraq, and people combating all forms of violence against women around the world. MADRE will send you or your Valentine a beautiful gift card with a brief description of the powerful programs your gift makes possible.  Visit our website to learn more about these and other programs.  Make a Valentine's Day Gift Donation Now Please allow three to four day for delivery. Donations must be made by 5pm EST on February 11th to ensure arrival by Valentine's Day. Happy Valentine's Day from all of us at MADRE!   Valentine's Day gift donations by check can be made payable to MADRE at the address below.  Please indicate "Valentine's Tribute" in the memo line of your check, and be sure to include the name and address of your gift recipient. MADRE 121 West 27th Street, #301 New York, NY 10001 If you prefer to donate by phone, please call us at 212.627.0444. Donate online at madre.kintera.org/val08

Super Tuesday
Topic: Politics

I really don't have anything invested in the Democratic primary - I don't even remember which state I'm registered in, having flipped back and forth between Maryland and New Jersey and been out of the country for so many elections. I think I'm registered as Independent, too. I couldn't be bothered to sort out where I'm registered and what I'm registered as and whether I need to change my registration to vote in the primary by now (though I will figure it out by November, to be sure). Especially when from the beginning, I've felt that nearly any Democrat, and most Republicans, would at least be less disastrous than Bush. So the preliminaries just aren't all that interesting to me, personally.

Votes are mostly amusing to me as opportunities to play the spoiler. No mainstream candidate (especially not at the national level) is ever going to espouse policies that will win over my heart and soul, so I cast my vote with the aim of messing with things and encouraging underdogs.  For instance, I briefly entertained the thought of registering Republican to vote for Guliani in the primaries to do my bit to drive the Moral Majority from the Republican fold. And unless something changes dramatically between now and November, I will probably be casting my vote for the Green party, because the Democrats need shaking up, in my opinion.

All that said, I still felt prompted to share this endorsement of Obama, because it's the most convincing I've yet encountered, in no small part because it comes from someone who seems to think very much like I do:

I wish I had a slew of good policy reasons to support Obama over Clinton. I don’t. Both are articulating economic and environmental policies I can live with. Both endorse civil unions, but neither has been brave enough to support gay marriage. Frustrated as I am with Clinton’s vote to allow Bush’s endless war in Iraq, I can’t find huge distinctions between her plan to end the war and Obama’s. Frankly, I believe either would be a solid, competent leader, and would be a damned sight better than the last seven years we’ve suffered through.

But my friends from overseas have a point, and it’s a point I agree with. America’s image abroad has suffered incalculably under the Bush 43 presidency. It’s going to require a huge overhaul for America to be viewed as a desirable partner in international affairs and as a force for positive change. I’m not sure Hillary Clinton has the power to change America’s image that profoundly; I think that Barack Obama does.

Obama is a born globalist. He’s the child of a first-generation immigrant; he’s lived and studied abroad; his family tree helps reflect the diversity and complexity that characterizes our nation.  read the rest

Television brings rage
Topic: Politics

I should really stop watching it until election season is over.

At the moment, there are a bunch of really loathsome ads about these guys running constantly. They're all Republican candidates, competing for the a seat in the House of Representatives; naturally, the ads are all about asserting the candidates' conservative credentials. Which they mostly do by treating "liberal" like it's a filthyfilthyfoul insult and describing their opponents as "liberal" in every other sentence. I guess the district is safely Republican, and whoever wins the nomination doesn't have to worry about currying favor with liberal-leaning independents in order to secure the seat, because 8 months of watching this would certainly make me vote for whichever Democrat runs against the eventual "winner" - if I got to vote and were undecided, which I don't and I'm not, so mostly I'm just really really irritated by that aspect of these ads. 

What brings the rage, and what I am sure will upset me more and more as this year wears on, is that these ads make a point of casting "illegal immigrants" as the great scourge that only one of these brave, stalwart, paper-pushing, glad-handing privileged white men has the courage to face down in order to defend OUR WAY OF LIFE.  I hate everything about this rhetoric, especially the crafting of immigrants as the enemy. I shudder to think what we're in for, as the economy struggles and the election year rolls on: "[f]ear thrives in a bear market, as we try in vain to trade our fear for security; and fear is the currency of war propaganda." 

The propaganda about illegal immigration is at a ridiculous pitch, and so much of it is wrong, ethically and factually.  In a recent interview, Amy Goodman described taking on Lou Dobbs (who she aptly compares to Father Coughlin): "We asked Dobbs about assertions he continually repeats, like a third of our prisoners are illegal aliens. Well, it’s just not true: 6 percent of prisoners in the state and federal systems are immigrants. And that’s divided between legal and undocumented, well below their representation in the population."

Another popular lie: that undocumented immigrants are freeloaders draining national resources.  In fact, migrants often purchase fake social security cards in order to acquire jobs, making contributions that most of them will not end up accessing. In 2002 an estimated "3.8 million households headed by illegal immigrants generated $6.4 billion in Social Security taxes."  More than one scholar has argued that the benefits of illegal immigration outweigh, on balance, its detrimental effects.

And the jobs that undocumented immigrants take? Just read this. It prompts a few questions from me: 1) How many Americans would tolerate working under these conditions? 2) Given #1, who benefits most from the status quo? Who would pay the price if working conditions were safe, health risks minimized, and the pay was sufficient to tempt large numbers of American workers to take the jobs? Who benefits from increased border checkpoints and patrols? Who benefits from building prisons to house undocumented immigrants - from a whole industry springing up around controlling illegal immigration without regulating or stopping it? 

It makes me sick that this exploitation of workers fuels our economy, and the demonization of immigrants fuels our political debates. Bad enough that we cultivate ignorance about the conditions they work under, or the conditions in their home communities that make immigration to the US the most viable alternative. To add insult (and injury) to (insult and) injury, we allow our leaders to make undocumented immigrants scapegoats for crime, overtaxed public services, and economic woes. I would emigrate to get away from this if I thought it would do any damn good.  

Amy Goodman, again:

This drumbeat against immigrants has really turned many Republican Latinos against the Republican Party. They feel like this debate has crossed the line to anti-immigrant and racist, as opposed to a legitimate debate on what we should do about immigration.

I wish I felt like the Democrats were better than the lesser of two evils in this debate. Especially certain Democrats. I am not looking forward to what I will be hearing in US political discourse for the rest of the year. 

Help a blogger out
Topic: PSAs
Kit of Mango & Ginger (hands down the yummiest blog title in my regular reading list) would like some more responses to her food behaviors and attitudes survey.  Give 15 minutes to further the growth of independent food blogging in Baltimore, won't you?

Sign petition to raise money for UNIFEM campaign against violence against women
Topic: PSAs
Challenge Grant to End Violence Against Women

UN Foundation to donate $1 for every signature to UNIFEM
online campaign

WASHINGTON DC / New York (January 22, 2008) - The United Nations Foundation announced today its support for the "Say NO to Violence against Women" campaign. The Foundation will donate $1 for each the first 100,000 signatures to the online campaign that is run by the UN Development Fund for Women, UNIFEM.

The contributions will go to the UNIFEM-managed UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.

"Recent UN research has demonstrated the shameful scope of violence against women around the world, where one in three women are subject to some form of coercion or abuse in their lifetimes," said Timothy E. Wirth, President of the United Nations Foundation. "To turn the tide on violence, the international community must work together to stand up for the human rights of women and that's what UNIFEM's "Say NO" campaign does. It allows people everywhere to go on record and stand up for a world free of violence against women."

"Thanks to this fantastic challenge grant, every signature will bolster our
cause to make ending violence against women worldwide a top priority", said UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman who champions the campaign. What's more, it will help provide critical resources for local initiatives that are supported through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women - whether it is working to prevent human trafficking, assisting survivors of domestic violence or helping implement laws against rape."

People can sign on to the campaign at www.sayNOtoviolence.org.

"The more people join, the stronger the message that there is an ever-growing movement of people who are demanding decisive action to put a
stop to what is probably the most pervasive human rights violation", added acting UNIFEM Executive Director Joanne Sandler. "This generous donation will provide an additional strong incentive for people to sign up to the campaign."

The "Say No to Violence against Women" campaign was launched November 26, 2007. To date more than 18,000 people worldwide have signed the call that urges an end to violence against women and encourages support to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women. This Trust Fund, managed by UNIFEM for the UN system, supports innovative initiatives by governments and non-governmental organizations to end violence against women. Since its establishment in 1996, it has helped fund some 250 initiatives in 120 countries.

"Each day, each hour, each minute, a woman in the world is a victim of
violence," said Wirth. "Taking this simple step, signing on to the campaign,
sends the message that enough is enough and the cycle of violence must stop now."

For more information about the campaign visit www.sayNOtoviolence.org or www.unfoundation.org.

Recommended post-MLK Day reading
Topic: Politics

BfP knocks this one out of the park, with some handy assistance from commenters: she starts by pointing out some key flaws in Jonathan Farley's recent Guardian commentary on the failure of the civil rights movement in the United States.  Then she goes on to present some background on Ella Baker - one of the many civil rights activists whose contribution to the movement tends to get lost when the Civil Rights Movement is conflated with Martin Luther King, Jr.  And throughout the post she weaves a powerful description of what it means to be involved in a community movement confronting injustice.  There are some excellent follow-on comments and elaborations, as well.  Go read.

Jaime Leigh Jones and Louise Slaughter
Topic: PSAs

Via Feministe

I've written in the past about issues of sexual abuse and exploitation perpetrated by military forces against local people, and the problem of holding those accused of sexual abuse accountable.  Here is a case of abuse from Iraq, perpetrated by an entity for which no lines of legal accountability have been established.  This case is horriffic, and if US government contractors in Iraq are able to treat their employees this way, how do you think they're treating Iraqi civilians?

 

Dear Friends,

I need your help.

Two years ago, 20 year old Jamie Leigh Jones was drugged, assaulted, and viciously gang raped on the job by her fellow coworkers. Learning of the attack, her employers placed her under armed guard in a shipping container for 24 hours without access to food or water.

Two years later, these horrific acts of unspeakable violence, as well as, the unbelievable reaction by her employers have gone unpunished and justice has not been served.

Why? How this could this happen? Because the 20 year old victim was a government contractor at KBR in the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq.

Jamie Leigh Jones, an American citizen, while employed by KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton was brutally gang raped by fellow KBR employees two years ago while stationed in Iraq. Army doctors performed a medical examination which showed that she had been raped both anally and vaginally. However, the rape kit was turned over to KBR and portions of the rape kit have vanished. Jamie was then ordered by her KBR employers to remain in a shipping container under armed guard for 24 hours without access to food or water until she was rescued after her Member of Congress demanded action by the State Department.

After two years, not only has the Justice Department not brought any criminal charges, but ABC News recently reported that they could not confirm that any federal agency was investigating the case at all.

There are over 20,000 Americans employed by US government contractors in Iraq. These individuals have the same right to treatment, services, and proper investigations when they are the victims of violent crime as those of us here at home. Their offenders, who are paid with American taxpayer dollar, should be held accountable.

Since Jamie has gone public with her story, it is clear that this is not an isolated incident; many women working for US Government contractors face sexual assault and harassment. Yet, the perpetrators of these violent crimes are not held accountable and justice is not served.

The current state of affairs is absolutely unacceptable. Action is required.

This is where I need your help.

I, along with Congressman Ted Poe and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky, am taking the first step to ensuring accountability by sending letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding answers in the KBR rape cases and asking them to clearly define the steps they are taking to ensure that what happened to Jamie will ever happen again.

I need your help to get your Member of Congress to sign on to these letters. It’s been two years and it is obvious that the Departments of Defense and State are not taking this issue seriously. We need to show them that the House of Representatives demands action.

Please call your Member of Congress as soon as possible and ask them to contact me, Louise M. Slaughter, to sign on to the letters to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding answers about the KBR rape cases and how they plan to prevent these occurrences in the future.

With your help, we can take the first step to preventing what happened to Jamie from ever happening again.

In solidarity,

Louise M. Slaughter

Member of Congress

 

Rep. Slaughter only specifically mentions American citizens, but contractors should face justice for any allegations of sexual abuse or harassment against any person in Iraq.  

Supergirls
Topic: Editorializing

The morning news recently featured a local girl who had helped her father get assistance when he had a stroke.  Or maybe it was heart attack - I only caught the teaser, not the whole story.  I think they said the girl was nine.  For a nine-year-old to keep her head when something serious is happening to her dad is unquestionably brave, not to mention strong.  Her parents must be very proud of her. 

I wish the news had featured the story of Alexis Goggins, as well.  For a seven-year-old to jump in front of a gun to save her mother, as Alexis did, is so ferociously heroic it breaks my heart.  Her mother was hit, in the side of the head and arm, but Alexis took six of the bullets meant for her mother.  Despite being shot in the face and upper body, Alexis came out of surgery on Sunday still fighting.  She may need further surgeries.  I can't even begin to imagine what her mother must be feeling, having had her first-grade daughter put her own body and life on the line to protect her.  

A fund for Alexis's medical expenses and her family's living costs has been established.  Checks should be made out to the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund and sent to Campbell Elementary School in care of the Alexis Goggins Hero Fund, 2301 E Alexandrine St, Detroit, 48207. For information, call (313) 494-2052.

The carnival is up
Topic: 16 Days

The first part of the Carnival of 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is up at Black Looks.  I'm looking forward to going through the linked posts at greater length soon.