Broadband Politics

Alice Walker, the author of The Color Purple, is admired and revered by all sorts of left-wing progressive people. Unfortunately, her daughter Rebecca isn’t one of them. (more…)

I won’t be able to say that in New York if this law passes:

The New York City Council, which drew national headlines when it passed a symbolic citywide ban earlier this year on the use of the so-called n-word, has turned its linguistic (and legislative) lance toward a different slur: bitch.

The term is hateful and deeply sexist, said Councilwoman Darlene Mealy of Brooklyn, who has introduced a measure against the word, saying it creates “a paradigm of shame and indignity” for all women.

Somebody should bitch-slap Councilwoman Mealy before she embarrasses her momma again.

This is a fine example of slippery slopes in action. The Council banned the use of the “n-word”, so why shouldn’t they ban the “b-word” as nearly as offensive? And then “fatty” because it’s nearly as offensive as “bitch”, and then “retard”, and then “dullard”, and then “not exactly a genius”. Why not ban all the words in the English language, on the grounds that each one can hurt somebody’s feelings if used in the right context?

Then New Yorkers, who used to be the freest people in the world until they started banning smoking in bars and fast food and hard words, will just sit in their many corners banging their heads against their many walls and moaning, almost imperceptibly, about the abject emptiness of their lives.

The bitches.

Ayann Hirsi Ali is a hero to many who want to see the war on Islamic terrorism end in a victory for the West. But every hero has her critics, and Ali is no exception. For some of the most mind-bending perverse logic you’ve ever seen, check the Newsweek article attacking Ali from the pro-Muslim and pro-feminist (!) point of view:

Other Muslim women interested in reform aren’t exactly in step with Hirsi Ali. “I wish people had been nicer to her,” says Muslim author and feminist Asra Nomani. “But I don’t blame Islam. I blame really messed-up people who’ve used religion to justify their misogyny.” As staunchly patriarchal strains of Wahhabi Islam infiltrate Muslim cultures outside the gulf region, many modern female followers are wondering how to embrace their religion without succumbing to its more sexist demands. And they’re coming up with answers that don’t require them to abandon either their religion or their culture. In the Middle East and South Asia, a strong majority of Muslim women recently polled by Gallup believed they should have the right to work outside the home and serve in the highest levels of government. Here in the United States, dozens of scholars like Ithaca College’s Asma Barlas, Harvard’s Leila Ahmed and Notre Dame’s Asma Afsaruddin have challenged widely accepted interpretations of the Qur’an. “They are Islam’s Martina Luthers,” jokes Nomani. “They are my heroes.”

It’s not clear what “being nicer” would have meant: no clitorectomy, fewer beatings, and a better arranged marriage, or not being disowned? Some people are just so hard to please.

Linklove to Roger L, Simon.

So Melissa McEwan follows Amanda Marcotte out the door of the Edwards campaign, denying credit to the rightwing performance artists who clearly did help her find the door:

It is not right-wing bloggers, nor people like Bill Donohue or Bill O’Reilly, who prompted nor deserve credit for my resignation, no matter how much they want it, but individuals who used public criticisms of me as an excuse to unleash frightening ugliness, the likes of which anyone with a modicum of respect for responsible discourse would denounce without hesitation.

Come on, who is she kidding?

So we’ve seen the blogosphere eat its own these last two days, and pronounce them a yummy snack. But we’ve also seen the fake populism of John Edwards in action. He hired these two toxic harpies because they were associated with high-traffic, populist blogs that fit the image he’s trying to project of being the man of the people, protector of the weak and the downtrodden, champion of women’s rights and all of that. But John Edwards is none of that. In the real world, he’s a man who’s helped wreck the health care system of North Carolina by raising malpractice premiums and forcing small communities to lose their ob-gyns. He’s an environmentalist who lives in a 30,000 square foot house, and a populist who ran for president in 2004 because he couldn’t win a second term in the Senate.

And he’s not even smart enough to vet highly visible members of his campaign staff before he shoves them out in front of the public.

Can we trust a man with the trigger to our nuclear arsenal who can’t even figure out which bloggers to hire?

A couple of days ago, Professor Weinberger was complaining that the diaper-wearing nutcase feminist astronaut story was going to wipe out serious news for two weeks, but that cable news obsession will probably pale in comparison with what I expect to be an avalanche of fake mourning for Anna Nicole Smith, arguably the most worthless example of misspent protoplasm in recent history.

John Cole notes the irony:

I can not be alone in my observation that it is rather humorous that the person who most likely will rescue two feminists from public scrutiny is a stripper/turned Playmate who graduated into a full-fledged celebrity drunk, an addict and alcoholic through and through, as well as a terrible mother.

No dude, you aren’t alone.

Oh, by the way, there’s some sort of trial thing going on in Washington, but the tragic loss of America’s Princess depressed the prosecutor so bad he had to rest his case. Or something.

Capitol Weekly reports that major changes are afoot for California domestic-violence laws:

Men’s advocates say they have moved closer to their goal of gender-neutral domestic-violence laws in the past week.

First, a group of men who say they were battered and threatened by their wives got their day in court this past Friday. The four plaintiffs in Woods v. California say they were denied their constitutionally mandated equal protection as they sought shelter services and police safeguards.

Meanwhile, lobbyist Mike Robinson said that he has found multiple sponsors to draft legislation that would amend California’s domestic-violence laws to apply to “victims,” rather than only to women. He said the language has been approved by the Legislative Counsel. There are several Republicans who have said they are willing to sponsor the legislation, Robinson said, but he is trying to line up a Democratic co-author.

The Woods case was heard by Sacramento Superior Court Judge Lloyd Connelly. It does not seek any damages, but instead is meant to force gender-neutral law enforcement and services across key sections of the state’s government, health and penal codes.

Reports from Judge Connelly’s courtroom say the judge has declared California’s gender biased DV laws are unconstitutional, which they clearly are. The implications for removing gender bias from these laws are huge, as they affect not only the funding of shelters but also “must-arrest” laws and the training given to police, doctors, and judges.

The DV issue has been exploited as a source of funding and sympathy for a wide array of anti-male and anti-family interest groups, so this correction is long overdue. Too many children are in the custody of abusive mothers because the law insists that only men can be violent. My hat goes off to champions of equality such as Michael Robinson for having the stamina to fight this injustice as long as they have.

Cathy Young has written her last regular column for the Boston Globe:

While feminists have called for more male involvement in child-rearing, the women’s movement has also championed blatant favoritism toward mothers in child custody disputes, often to the point of vilifying fathers. This seems to be a clear case of putting solidarity with women over equity. While the fathers’ rights movement has often been depicted as a patriarchal backlash, it is in many ways more faithful to the true feminist legacy than are the women’s groups which endorse maternal chauvinism.

I am very proud of the support I have been able to give to equality for fathers, and particularly of my work in exposing the inaccuracies and bias in the 2005 PBS documentary “Breaking the Silence: The Children’s Stories,” which painted fathers who seek custody of their children as presumptive abusers.

The issue of mothers losing custody to alleged abusers has received more media coverage since then — much of it sensationalistic and slanted — and seems to be the next big battlefield for feminists and fathers’ rights activists. Sadly, the fact that children’s lives are at stake, not just the interests of men and women, often gets lost.

This is a real loss to the national dialog on gender issues. Cathy is scrupulously fair, often to a maddening degree. She never cuts any slack on the facts, even for those of us who agree with her on gender equality. She was apparently the victim of budget cuts made necessary by the erosion of print media’s ad stream by the Internet. Progress isn’t always for the best.

Fortunately, she’s still blogging and writing occasional columns.