The Sidra Roundup

I'm busy. I'm actually not busy enough. If I were busy enough, I'd do an even better job at managing my time. Reading period for finals is officially started, and I'm studying the 14th Amendment today.

(That's one of the the ones that gives you, you know, actual rights and stuff. Like equal protection under the law.)

Hence the not posting much whilst year one of law school draws itself to a close.

So.

1. If you're not reading twistedchick, you should be.

2. Al Gore is singing out the truth, as usual. I tell you, now that he's relaxed a bit, I think he and Howard Dean will be two of the most influential non-presidents we ever have. In the aforementioned link, he tackles the filibuster and what it means to have a deliberative democracy.

3. I can't believe we read Korematsu in my Constitutional Law class, and I dug into the relevant executive orders and whatnot*, and the evacuations and exclusions of Italian Americans (see Una Storia Segreta for more info), and still NOT ONCE did it cross my mind that there might be, hey, Tokyo War Crimes Trial transcripts, just like Nuremberg, my god I'm so stupid. (Thanks, Robin!) Not that they have anything, per se, to do with detentions at Manzanar and other camps, it's just *thwaps forehead* - aigh! Stupid! (*I've been to Manzanar and was already more-than-passingly interested in the subject.)

4. Claiming to be tolerant of differing views, Microsoft kowtowed to the right on its support for gay rights. God damn it, I remember when the right was the party of rights.

5. Oh, I love this twist:

The House of Representatives passed legislation on Wednesday that would make it a crime to take a minor across state lines for an abortion and create a national requirement for parental notification for underage women seeking to terminate a pregnancy.

[...]

The White House said in a statement the bill "is consistent with the administration's view that parents' efforts to be involved in their children's lives should be protected and the widespread belief ... that the parents of pregnant minors are best suited to provide them with counsel, guidance, and support."

Supporters of the bill said it was necessary to protect young women because an adult predator could impregnate a girl and then force her to have an abortion to hide the crime.

Yes, because if a girl gets pregnant thanks to an adult predator, she would, of course, be absolutely dying to have that baby. There wouldn't be any argument on her part against having it. Like, she may have been physically mature enough to impregnate, but not really big enough to carry and birth a child. And, she wouldn't be afraid that the child would grow up and become the next prey, would she? Once she's too old to hold the predator's attention? Heavens, no.

This is so overinclusive it's stupid. Keeping all minors from crossing state lines to get abortions without their parents will stop adult predators from taking minors across state lines to get legal abortions. It'll just stop everyone else, too. And keep girls from asking for help when their parents are the source of the problem in the first place.

So, now all the girls who feel they can't approach their parents will...do what? Exactly?

Here's a question: will this legislation decrease the number of abortions? Or just the number of legal ones?

6. In related news, Fla. Agency Gets Teen's Abortion Blocked.

As Bitch, Ph.D put it, ever so succinctly:

Yes! Too young and immature to make an informed medical decision, but not too young and immature to become a mama!

7.Americans mandate: Bush Lied about WMDs Hey, if Bush can call "half" a mandate, so can I.

8. When it comes to the death penalty, I'm of a very pragmatic class: Does it work? And, can it be implemented reliably? The answer to the latter, it seems, is 'no'. Sister Helen Prejean has witnessed, and come back to tell us what's wrong with capital punishment today.

9. Rolling Stone has an article on the Dominionists, who want to claim America for Christ. If you're a christian, when you read this article, put yourself in the shoes of someone who's not, if you can.

10. Kate Orman has inagurated a new rule for LiveJournal. When the news mentions a country and you don't know where the hell it is, look it up, and post three facts about it in your LJ. She starts with Angola, currently suffering an outbreak of Marburg (it's an hemorraghic disease similar to Ebola. You bleed out. This particular outbreak has a very high mortality rate.)

I heartily approve of this idea. If you'd like to learn more about Burkina Faso,Tonga, or Aruba, I'm your woman.

11. You should read The Revealer.