The Transgender Day of Remembrance was set aside to memorialize those who were killed due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in November to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28th, 1998.





x-posted to my LJ

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: NPR "Diane Rehm Show"

Gacked from feministing.com:

According to POLITICO, it turns out the RNC's insurance plan it purchases from Cigna has covered elective abortion for years, since the early 90s. This is significant because a. The GOP's platform has an anti-abortion policy - referring to the procedure as “a fundamental assault on innocent human life;” and b. "176 House Republicans joined 64 Democrats in voting for the so-called Stupak amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funds from being used to buy health insurance that covers elective abortions." RNC Chairman Steele immediately reacted and is demanding immediate changes from the policy coverage it receives from Cigna.



x-posted to my LJ

Current Mood: cynical

Work for food security.

Current Mood: uncomfortable

At the age of 14, Nolizwi Sinama set off from her aunt's home to a neighbouring village. She thought she had been sent on a routine chore. In fact, she was on her way to be married to a 42-year-old man.

Current Mood: angry

In what seems like a shock to just about everyone, President Obama has won the Nobel Peace Prize. (Thanks to <Lj user="_blackjack_" for the link.) Do you feel it was well-earned? Undeserved? Premature? Discuss in the comments below!

Audio slideshow: Art and politics in China. As China marks the 60th anniversary of Communist rule, Katie Hill, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Chinese Art at the University of Westminster in London, looks at how art has moved from the realm of propaganda to the international marketplace.

Current Mood: awake

Ex-Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has been sentenced to six years in jail for corruption by a court in Lima.


An EU report find that last year's conflict between Georgia and Russia over South Ossetia
puts a large part of the blame on Georgia. It said Georgia's use of force on the night of 7 August 2008 was not justifiable in the context of international law.

Irish voters are heading to the polls in a second referendum on the EU's Lisbon Treaty. This was "the" issue when we were traveling the country a couple of weeks ago. There were posters pushing "yes" or "no" literally everywhere you looked.

Current Mood: groggy
Current Music: Tori Amos "Tear in Your Hand"

MADAGASCAR:
Poverty Forces 2 Million Children into Hard Labour

Current Mood: cynical

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is angry over European farmers disposing of milk due to low milk prices while millions of children experience malnutrition in developing countries. (Yes, I know vegan folks will likely have issues with this article, but I do think it makes a larger point relating to poverty, privilege and the problems with humanitarian aid. We can always discuss various points in nnnop_ed)


x-posted to my LJ

Current Mood: determined
Current Music: Fishbone "Party at Ground Zero"

"Is Google violating women's rights?" Is the theme of the article from the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID) on Google, Inc.'s recent restrictions on ads for abortion services in fifteen countries.


x-posted to my LJ.

Current Mood: contemplative
Current Music: The Specials "A Message to You Rudy"

u.s. military shoots ground target from aircraft with laser beam, says this breathless, self-consciously informal article. as described, 12,000-lb laser weapons don't sound like they transmit very much energy, and the digression about aiming systems makes it sound like they have problems staying on target long enough to transmit it. i bet the coolness factor is high, though.

Senator Edward Kennedy dies at age 77. I cannot imagine what my hometown is like right now.

65 years later, female WWII test pilots finally recognized. Last month, President Obama signed a bill to give the Women's Air Force Service Pilots the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award for civilians. President Carter had previously granted the WASPs veteran status.

Current Mood: thoughtful
Current Music: U2 "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"

A top Rwanda genocide suspect accused of planning the massacre of at least 2,000 Rwandan Tutsis during the 1994 genocide, was captured and arrested late Tuesday evening in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Current Mood: drained
Current Music: Carol King "Home Again"

A Paris swimming pool has refused to allow a young Muslim woman to swim after she tried to enter while wearing a burqini, a full body covering that resembles a wet-suit with built-in hood, AFP reports.

Current Mood: discontent
Current Music: Carbon Leaf "Torn To Tattered"

Person Struck, Killed by Orange Line Train. Metro says preliminary reports indicate the man was "intentionally" on the tracks as the train pulled into the station.


x-posted to my LJ

Current Mood: uncomfortable

Henry Louis "Skip" Gates is an internationally respected scholar. He's a professor at Harvard, and the director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Studies.

Today, Cambridge police officers arrested him in front of his house. Apparently, a neighbor reported that a suspicious black man was trying to break into a home. In fact, the 58-year-old Gates was apparently pushing his shoulder against a sticky front door.

I would suggest reading the entire article, as well as the PDF of the police report; it's very interesting. But what it boils down to is: police arrested him for causing a disturbance when they...tried to arrest him. FOR ENTERING HIS OWN HOUSE.

Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., a professor at Harvard Law, will represent Gates in court.

This Boston.com article had far fewer "but he was being uppity comments" than I expected. Which may just be a sign of how little I think of Internet commenters.

(And kudos galore to sparkymonster for bringing this to my attention.)

In a poll, more Americans thought "natural" was safer and healthier than "organic," and that "organic" was just a greenwashing term used to jack up the price.

In fact, the exact opposite is true. Many "natural" foods contain ingredients that can only be created in a lab or industrial food processing facility.

“They felt organic was just a fancy way of saying expensive,” said Suzanne Shelton, president and CEO of the Shelton Group, which conducted the survey and specializes in marketing sustainability to mainstream consumers. “They think ‘natural’ is regulated by the government but that organic isn’t, and of course it’s just the opposite.”

In a shocking coincidence, Horizon Dairy is launching a new, lower-priced "Natural" line. What does "Natural" mean? Whatever they decide to define it as.

In news of other "natural" things, Ron Paul and Barney Frank have just submitted a bill to the House of Representatives to federally decriminalize marijuana. Esquire Magazine has a detailed interview with Barney Frank on the topic.

The body of a Muslim woman, killed in a German courtroom by a man convicted of insulting her religion, has been taken back to her native Egypt for burial.


x-posted to my LJ

Current Mood: pessimistic

Current Mood: okay