The hip, cutting-edge magicians, Penn & Teller, are often resented and discredited by more traditional magicians, because the bad boys of magic invariably give…
World
Leon T. Hadar: Israeli Self-Goal? Maybe Not
I tend to agree with The Financial Times’ Tobias Buck that the provocative Israeli decision to approve a plan to build 1,600 new homes…
Politics
Open Thread for Night Owls: Rescuing Sex Slaves
Human trafficking, much of it for sexual purposes, is a worldwide phenomenon. It can be found everywhere from Vietnam to the United States. Estimates of its victims run from 4 million to 27 million, which numbers provide a window on how difficult it is to get a handle on the crime. Each year since 2004, the U.S. Attorney General has presented Congress a report on human trafficking, which includes children and adults sold for sexual purposes and other forced labor. In other words, they are slaves. The number of children in this grim trade are estimated at one million, 80% of them girls. But, really, nobody knows for certain.
While many of these slaves are transported over international boundaries – perhaps 800,000 a year – the majority stay in their country of origin, far from family members, captive to the traffickers who make as much as $15 billion a year worldwide. But again, the real numbers are, at best, educated guesswork.
At the Daily Beast, Michelle Goldberg writes about how one victim in India has become a tireless advocate for others as co-founder of Prajwala.
When Sunitha Krishnan arrives at one of the shelters she runs for sex-trafficking victims in the Indian city of Hyderabad, several of the young women who live there throng around her, their high voices excited and quick. Just moments before, they tell her, a brothel madam and three of her goons had shown up at the shelter’s metal gate, screaming threats and abuse. No one seems particularly frightened—in Krishnan’s world, this sort of thing happens a lot. She’s been beaten up by traffickers 14 times in the last 18 years. Mere words don’t rattle her.
Only one girl, who hangs back from the others, looks shaken. She’d been rescued only the night before, and seems both confused and extremely wary. Her wrists are scarred with thick gashes. At first, Krishnan assumes they’re from suicide attempts—almost everyone in the shelter has at one time tried to kill herself—but the girl says she was cut by a customer. The truth, whatever it is, will probably come out later, when Krishnan has had time to win the girl’s trust. Right now, she has to head back to the headquarters of Prajwala, her anti-trafficking organization, because she has a meeting to plan another rescue. …
Krishnan says her political awakening began when she was gang raped by eight men when she was 16. The worst part of it, she says, wasn’t the rape itself, but the way the surrounding society, including her own family, seemed to blame her for what happened. “Of course, being violated by eight men is not a pleasant experience, but that part of it faded,” she says. “But the psychological part of it, the social part of it, continued for many years, that’s when things started becoming more and more clear to me.” She realized, she said, “that women who are victims of sexual violence are doubly victimized by the society,” and she committed her life to fighting such victimization.
• • • • •
At Daily Kos on this date in 2007:
The Army is sending troops back to Iraq whose injuries prevent them from wearing protective gear, firing a weapon, or even moving quickly enough to take cover to avoid enemy fire.
Jack Murtha seeks to change all this, simply by requiring that the Army adhere to its own standards on readiness, rest, and retraining.
But “Support the Troops” Republicans say no.
Politics
With Friends Like Rush Limbaugh …
Poor Eric Massa — it only took a day to go from being Rush Limbaugh’s hero:
This story speaks for itself … Massa says the White House and Emanuel went after him because of the health care vote … Now, Massa warns us what we all know, but I think you need to hear it from a Democrat being forced out by Obama and Steny Hoyer and Pelosi … So Congressman Massa, we’re doing our part here to make it a national story … This guy is as fired up as anybody I’ve ever heard anywhere opposed this, and the process and how they’re getting it done. This guy is going to have so much support from people.
… to this:
All I knew was this guy was telling great stories about Rahm Emanuel … Here we have a legitimate kook … Anybody who embraces this guy is going to get caught … This guy is a loose canon and he’s a risk … This guy’s name didn’t even ring a bell.
Of course, the funny part is that it took Limbaugh nearly a day to figure out that it was probably not a good idea to embrace a guy whose story went from cancer, to salty language, to fracking, to, THEY’RE ALL OUT TO GET ME, and now to groping. Maybe he was stoned.
World
Obamas Flirt Openly At White House, Michelle Looks Amazing (PHOTOS)
The first couple welcomed guests to the White House on Monday, marking International Women’s Day. Mrs. Obama looked ravishing in a grey draped dress by Lanvin.
They kicked off the event with this adorable exchange. Pictures and full transcrip…
World
Oscars 2010 WORST-DRESSED: See Who Bombed The Red Carpet (PHOTOS, POLL)
You voted, and we listened–for the most part. Here are your (and a few of our) picks for the Oscars’ worst-dressed. Then tell us if you stand by what your fellow readers think…or completely disagree.
Check out the picks for best-dressed.
…
World
Oscars 2010 BEST-DRESSED: See Who Dazzled On The Red Carpet (PHOTOS, POLL)
You voted, and we listened–for the most part. Here are your (and a few of our) picks for the Oscars’ best-dressed. Then tell us if you stand by what your fellow readers think…or completely disagree.
Check out the picks for worst-dressed.
…
Politics
Repent Amarillo: The Hate Group With A Nuclear Twist
It’s been blogged all over the place, so doubtless you’ve read about a rather alarming development on the religious extremist front in Texas. I’m talking about the militia-style hate group known as Repent Amarillo. Here’s the banner from their website:
When you go their website, you’re treated to some martial music and the sound of gunshots. They refer to themselves as the Army of God, and their motto is:
“We are the Special Forces of spiritual warfare, we’re looking for a few good warriors.”
Think Progress has a good post about the group (based on original reporting by the Texas Observer), summarizing some of their goals. Note the part I’ve emphasized in boldface:
An evangelical Christian hate group called “Repent Amarillo” is reportedly terrorizing the town of Amarillo, Texas. Repent fashions itself as a sort of militia and targets a wide range of community members they deem offensive to their theology: gays, liberal Christians, Muslims, environmentalists, breast cancer events that do not highlight abortion, Halloween, “spring break events,” and pornography shops. On its website, Repent has posted a “Warfare Map” of its enemies in town…
… Led by a man named David Grisham, a security guard at a nuclear-bomb facility called Pantex, Repent first gained media attention in Texas following a campaign to boycott Houston for electing a gay mayor. The group, which is associated with Raven Ministries, collaborates with other Christian groups as well as forced pregnancy advocacy associations like “Bound 4 Life.”
Since nuclear weapons, nuclear materials, and national security are a big interests of mine, I wanted to bring special attention to the fact that this group of religious extremists is led by someone who is a guard at one of the most secure facilities in the United States — a facility so secure, in fact, that, as journalists Nathan Hodge and Sharon Weinberger mention in their book:
Pantex… requires a “Q” clearance (the Department of Energy’s version of “top secret”) to even get in the door.
There’s a damned good reason for this level of security. Although Pantex used to be where nuclear weapons were assembled, its current mission, as a government-owned/contractor-operated facility includes the following:
- Evaluate, retrofit, and repair weapons in support of both life extension programs and certification of weapon safety and reliability
- Dismantle weapons that are surplus to the strategic stockpile
- Sanitize components from dismantled weapons
- Develop, test, and fabricate high explosive components
- Provide interim storage and surveillance of plutonium pits
To give you an idea of the scale of Pantex, a recent International Panel on Fissile Materials report (pdf) indicates that there are an estimated 14,000 plutonium pits stored at the site, i.e. the weapons-grade plutonium from bombs that have been taken apart. There is also some highly enriched uranium stored there, as well as bombs waiting to be dismantled.
You get the picture.
I don’t know what David Grisham’s access level is, but he’s been a member of the Pantex security force for twenty-two years, so I can only assume that he’s rather well-established; it’s also safe to assume that he has a high security clearance, given the nature of the facility that employs him.
The fact is that he is a bona fide religious extremist, a self-labeled warrior of Christ who has taken it upon himself to lead a group of bullies on a crusade. According to an interview with a local independent publication, Grisham says he heard “the voice of God” speak to him from Mayan ruins, telling him to “do something about America’s decline”. Apparently “doing something” means being a thug and persecuting members of the community while wearing fatigues.
It’s not Grisham’s religious beliefs I have a problem with. It’s his extremism and the degree to which he has taken it that is a huge problem. His group bears the earmarks of a fledgling militia, part of the rising tide of hate groups seen across the United States today.
Most noteworthy, he is part of the security forces at an extremely sensitive nuclear facility. He is part of how secure the facility is, and that’s very, very worrying to me.
People in this position should not be part of extremist movements. That should go without saying.
(Additional discussion in xxdr zombiexx’s diary posted yesterday.)
World
Kimberly Butler: Is the Medium the Message? Trivialization of the Medium
In 1964, media analyst Marshall McLuhan suggested that a given medium was more important than its message. In 2009, I sat down with Dan Rather,…
World
June Carbone: Blue Biology: Women, Economics, and Family Values
The areas of the country most committed to traditional values have the highest divorce and teen pregnancy rates, and provide the least support for access to contraception and abortion.
World
Rare, Blue De Beers Diamond To Be Auctioned In Hong Kong
Sotheby’s is set to auction off a rare, blue diamond, once part of the De Beers Millennium collection, Reuters reports. The 5.16 carat gem has an estimated value of $4.6-$5.8 million and will hit the block on April 7.
“The diamond’s high and …
World
Mark Bazer: Paul Kahan on The Interview Show
Paul Kahan, executive chef for Avec, Big Star, Blackbird and the Publican, stopped by The Interview Show, a talk show I host in Chicago at…
World
Kimberly Butler: Is the Medium the Message? Corporatization of the Media (VIDEO)
In 1964, media analyst Marshall McLuhan suggested that a given medium was more important than its message. In 2009, I sat down with Dan Rather,…
Women
Arizona’s Proposed Egg Donor Legislation: A Wolf In Sheep’s Clothing
There is some disturbing proposed legislation in Arizona that would ban compensated egg donation. Republican Rep. Nancy Barton, the sponsor of the bill, would have her constituents believe:
“It’s illegal to sell any other human body part, and here we have an ongoing situation where human eggs are being sold at all sorts of varying prices,” said Barto.
Barto said women collect anywhere from $2,500 to $10,000 when they donate their eggs. She said offering women that much money for their eggs encourages them to donate for the wrong reasons.
“Some demographics would be more prone to exploitation than others,” she said. “Poor, disenfranchised women might be more apt to respond to that lure and incentive and be taken advantage of and I think that’s a real concern.”
With all due respect to Ms. Barto, she is full of it. This is nothing more than a transparent attempt to infringe upon the constitutionally protected right to procreate. Ms. Barto, as do many of her colleagues in the Republican party across the country, have moral and philosophical objections to assisted reproduction and choice. This is just another attempt to restrict access by infertility patients to services such as egg donation…
World
Demystifying ‘Hard’ Things To Cook (PHOTOS)
As part of The Week of Eating In, we’re challenging the conventional wisdom that deems certain foods too hard to cook for the inexperienced. We understand that cooking may seem like a daunting task at times, but if you bear with us, we can sho…
World
Mike Lux: CPAC: the Cruelty Political Action Committee
I have been on the progressive side of the aisle virtually my whole life (being around a lot of Republicans in Nebraska, I did flirt…
World
Halle Tecco: Why We Talk (Or Don’t Talk) So Much
My initial hypothesis was that talkers are socially conditioned. The ‘talking gene’ must be related to other traits like aggressiveness, openness, and friendliness; and that this is contingent upon a child’s behavior.
Media
Mel B Shaves Part of Her Head
Mel B shaves part of her head. Is Mel trying to make a wild fashion statement? I hope she had a purpose to shaving her head, because the style doesn’t suit her! And appearing at the BRIT Awards doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to me!
More pictures of Mel after the buzz…
Mel has been [...]
World
Ariane de Bonvoisin: The Seventh Secret of Change
Finding your Spirit where tranquility, ideas and wisdom live. People who successfully navigate change know they are connected to something bigger than themselves. When everything…
World
Fred Teng: We Need More Constructive U.S.-China Relations
On the heels of the arms sales to Taiwan and at a time when we rely on China’s geopolitical clout in Iran and North Korea, inviting the Dalai Lama to visit the White House will be instigating a destructive downward spiral in relations.
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