Growing up the only thing I knew about Cossacks was that they raped and killed Jews. Recently, reading Red Cavalry by Isaac Babel, I realized how little I knew about these people who were responsible for driving my grandparents to America. Babel, a Jew, travelled with the anti-semitic Cossacks in the Polish campaign during the [...]
Dr. Josephine Ho, one of Taiwan’s leading researchers and political activists on issues of gender and sexuality is under attack for having linked to sites with information about bestiality on her web site. Those attacking her are quite candid about their attempt to use this as a way of silencing those they consider to be [...]
Bush is trying to kill overtime pay for millions of workers: The Bush administration is trying to push through new regulations — without public hearings or public comment — that would deprive millions of Americans of overtime pay. The Senate can vote to block this measure. If the Senate doesn’t act, more than 8 million [...]
In response to the rising tide of people using the “F-word” to describe the Bush administration’s numerous tactics for dividing the world into those who are “with them” in their perpetual war for perpetual peace, or those who are “against them,” James Traub of the New York Times wrote an article in the June 1st [...]
From Gary Hart’s Web Log: Whenever someone’s patriotism is questioned or judgments rendered about who is and who is not patriotic it always seems to come from the right. It’s not entirely clear why that is. Who gave any ideology, right or left, the right to define loyalty and patriotism? …The First Amendment (according to [...]
It seems that some artists are boycotting the Apple Music Store because they won’t sell albums unless the artists also agree to let Apple sell the songs individually as well. I can understand this – as “artists” they want to control how people experience their product. But, to be honest, even if I go out [...]
Following on my marriage post, I think this link to Balkinization deserves an entry of its own. Jack Balkin has an excellent post which clarifies a lot of the confusion surrounding the Supreme Court’s decision in the sodomy case. Especially with regard to Kennedy’s attempt to strengthen Roe vs. Wade and the relationship between morality [...]
One of the interesting things about the recent Supreme Court decision on the Texas anti-Sodomy law was the way in which it went out of its way to strengthen the underlying principles of Roe vs. Wade, while at the same time explicitly rejecting the possibility that the decision would have any effect on same-sex marriage. [...]