A student at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln was raped. The rapist, Pamir Safi, had been tried for multiple previous charges of sexual assault. During the trial in a Nebraska courtroom, the victim described in detail what happened. But in the retelling, the judge barred her from using words like "rape" and "sexual assault". The jury was not informed of this limitation and the trial ended in a hung jury. Sadly, this victim must be further victimized by taking the rapist back to court. A retrial begins this month.
Prayers of gratitude for her strength and courage. Exclamations of outrage at Cheuvront and Safi. I am, again, ashamed of Nebraska.
http://www.slate.com/id/2168758/
http://badcopnews.com/2007/06/20/nebraska-district-court-judge-jeffre-cheuvront-bans-the-r-word-at-womans-rape-trial/
Very good blog
http://sexinthepublicsquare.wordpress.com/2007/06/25/why-we-need-more-explicit-sex-talk-in-courtrooms/
You can listen to an interview of the victim here:
http://www.cbc.ca/radioshows/AS_IT_HAPPENS/20070622.shtml
A note about my choice to publish the names of the sexist judge and the rapist: Like "the gallows", I think there is something to be said for public humiliation.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Cheesy Poofs
Here are excerpts of a great article about the Farm Bill, explaining the damage being done to our small towns, our family farms, and our arteries. . . t
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/opinion/28egan.html
June 28, 2007
Red State Welfare
By TIMOTHY EGAN
Drive across the empty reaches of the Great Plains, from the lost promise of Valentine, Neb., to the shadowless side roads into Sunray, Tex., and what you see is a land that has lost its purpose. Many of the towns set in this infinity of flat have a listless look, with shuttered main streets and schools given over to the grave.
With upwards of $20 billion a year in federal payments going to a select few in farm country, you would think that these troubled counties would have a more vigorous pulse. After all, corn and wheat prices are at record highs, and big manses here and there, with Hummers in limestone driveways, indicate that somebody is doing well.
It would be one thing if the despair and disparity in farm country were the sole products of history, if time had simply passed it all by. But it comes as a jolt to realize that government policy is much to blame.
The Red State welfare program, also known as the farm subsidy system, showers most of its tax dollars on the richest farmers, often people with no dirt under their fingernails, at the expense of everybody else trying to work the land. Like urban welfare before reform, agriculture subsidies reward those who can work the system — farming the government, as they call it around the diner. . . .
Every five years or so Congress drafts a farm bill. The last farm bill was a masterpiece of Soviet-style goals and giveaways signed by that faux-rancher who likes to show off his cowboy boots, President Bush.
This massive piece of legislation could be a blueprint for rural America. But it has become a spoils system where the congressmen-turned-lobbyists make sure that their clients get triple-figure checks for growing things that the nation already has in surplus.
This year, things are different. It’s not their farm bill anymore. It is quickly becoming a food bill, a design for the American diet, possibly the worst in the industrial world. Budget hawks, nutritionists, small farmers and big farmers who grow fruits and vegetables without subsidies, alternative energy advocates and rural renaissance types — all are ready to do battle over the new plan.
The farm bill sets the rules for the American food system and helps to subsidize obesity. It rewards growers of big commodity crops like corn, soybeans and wheat — the foundation of our junk food nation. So, a bag of highly processed orange puff balls with no nutritional value is cheaper than a tomato or a peach. Wonder why.
The reformists, by and large, are not trying to get in on the gravy train. They want to revitalize rural America, to encourage farmers’ markets, contribute to environmental health and to make it easier for poor people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. . .
Thanks to the Environmental Working Group, we know exactly how much money every subsidized farmer is getting in every county. The group’s database shows that just 1 percent of all farmers receive about 17 percent of the payments — averaging $377,484 per person, over three years. . .
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/opinion/28egan.html
June 28, 2007
Red State Welfare
By TIMOTHY EGAN
Drive across the empty reaches of the Great Plains, from the lost promise of Valentine, Neb., to the shadowless side roads into Sunray, Tex., and what you see is a land that has lost its purpose. Many of the towns set in this infinity of flat have a listless look, with shuttered main streets and schools given over to the grave.
With upwards of $20 billion a year in federal payments going to a select few in farm country, you would think that these troubled counties would have a more vigorous pulse. After all, corn and wheat prices are at record highs, and big manses here and there, with Hummers in limestone driveways, indicate that somebody is doing well.
It would be one thing if the despair and disparity in farm country were the sole products of history, if time had simply passed it all by. But it comes as a jolt to realize that government policy is much to blame.
The Red State welfare program, also known as the farm subsidy system, showers most of its tax dollars on the richest farmers, often people with no dirt under their fingernails, at the expense of everybody else trying to work the land. Like urban welfare before reform, agriculture subsidies reward those who can work the system — farming the government, as they call it around the diner. . . .
Every five years or so Congress drafts a farm bill. The last farm bill was a masterpiece of Soviet-style goals and giveaways signed by that faux-rancher who likes to show off his cowboy boots, President Bush.
This massive piece of legislation could be a blueprint for rural America. But it has become a spoils system where the congressmen-turned-lobbyists make sure that their clients get triple-figure checks for growing things that the nation already has in surplus.
This year, things are different. It’s not their farm bill anymore. It is quickly becoming a food bill, a design for the American diet, possibly the worst in the industrial world. Budget hawks, nutritionists, small farmers and big farmers who grow fruits and vegetables without subsidies, alternative energy advocates and rural renaissance types — all are ready to do battle over the new plan.
The farm bill sets the rules for the American food system and helps to subsidize obesity. It rewards growers of big commodity crops like corn, soybeans and wheat — the foundation of our junk food nation. So, a bag of highly processed orange puff balls with no nutritional value is cheaper than a tomato or a peach. Wonder why.
The reformists, by and large, are not trying to get in on the gravy train. They want to revitalize rural America, to encourage farmers’ markets, contribute to environmental health and to make it easier for poor people to buy fresh fruits and vegetables. . .
Thanks to the Environmental Working Group, we know exactly how much money every subsidized farmer is getting in every county. The group’s database shows that just 1 percent of all farmers receive about 17 percent of the payments — averaging $377,484 per person, over three years. . .
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Solstice
Blessed Solstice to all of you,
Or happy longest-day-of-the-year, if you prefer that.
Wishes for warmth, light, health, good food, good love.
I'm having some medical problems right now but am receiving all of the above. Anyone remember that funny song from 'Fame' called "I Sing the Body Electric"?
Or happy longest-day-of-the-year, if you prefer that.
Wishes for warmth, light, health, good food, good love.
I'm having some medical problems right now but am receiving all of the above. Anyone remember that funny song from 'Fame' called "I Sing the Body Electric"?
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