Ok, maybe we need something else to think about

Maybe it's time to take a break from the blogwars, eh? So I offer you this:


see more crazy cat pics

Update to the BFP/AM/Seal Press stuff

Anyone who cares about the issues coming to the surface around the feminist blogosphere (ok, some of the feminist blogosphere, I think we all know who we can expect to ignore this) can check out Dear White Feminists. It has a good sumamry of links to blogs by women of color and allies, and a fairly decent summary of the current state of mind of many folks on the "please shut up and listen" side of things. Go check it out. But do yourselves a favor before you get all defensive and go "nuh uh, not all white people are like that, I'm not," and remember that your privilege may well be invisible to you. Stop. Think. Listen. If the words still don't apply to you, think about what you can do to increase the numbers of people that they don't apply to. Just don't jump to defensiveness -- these women are and have been talking about real issues that they see from what may be a different viewpoint from yours, and they are saying stuff worth listening to.

BOO! This is not delicious.

Sigh. I didn't want to talk about the whole disgusting quicksand-style latest Marcotte-inspired blogwar, but it's over now, and the aftermath....is making me sad.

I know I don't update my links or anything, and so maybe some of my friends who would have enjoyed BrownFemiPower's blog never found it. Anyway, she was this amazing, feminist, immigrant-rights blogger full of passion and eloquence who really opened my mind to a lot of stuff. You know, the kind of blog posts where you're like "nuh uh I am so NOT," and then you think about it for a minute and go "hm, well, maybe I have in the past, maybe I need to think about this..." Anyway, because of the whole ugly mess, she's now leaving blogging.

Read her farewell here.

I just wanted to say that as a longtime lurker on her blog this sucks and I wish I would have commented and engaged with her more.

Harassment of autism rights blogger by anti-vaxers

Oy. Ok, I came across this at BallastExistenz's blog first, and followed the links around until I got a handle on what was going on. I think it's important to share, because it shows the fundamental dishonesty and bullshit tactics of people who have not got facts on their side. Basically, this family has an autistic son, and they've bought into the thoroughly debunked idea that the vaccines that their son received as an infant caused his autism. So far, pretty average.

They hired some sketchy lawyer dude to go to bat against the vaccine manufacturers. This guy subsequently subpoenaed this blogger, Kathleen Seidel, for pretty much everything relating to her blog on autism, including financial records, records related to her blog, and her e-mails with other bloggers. Because guess why? Because she's written extensively and critically on the case and on thimerosal in general.

Needless to say, this is not ok, it's not how subponeas are supposed to be used, and it's clearly meant to intimidate a blogger who is critical of the case. And my guess as to why? Because the anti-vax contingent doesn't have any facts, and so just like other kinds of groups that are ideologically driven and fact-deficient (see also: racists, homophobes, forced-birthers, etc.), they choose to intimidate and threaten those who do have the facts, in the hopes that they'll shut up already.

Hopefully that won't happen. Sorry I didn't see this sooner -- Ballast's blog has been down, and I did see it on Pharyngula but didn't realize the extent of the issue. Here's some additional reading:
NeuroLogica Blog
Pure Pedantry
Overlawyered

Quick update and a news story

Kiddos, I gots some bad news. Your dashing and wonderful blogger has been laid off. So expect the volume of blogging to increase soon, since I'll have nothing else to do!

Ok, I'm sure you've all heard about this -- it's been all over NPR and the major blogs are picking it up. Remember Warren Jeffs? The crazy Mormon breakaway sect leader who was marrying 16 year olds to their cousins? He's got some other compounds around, and police in Texas were finally able to raid one of the compounds following a phone call from a 16-year-old girl to a shelter stating that her 50-year-old husband had beaten and raped her. Police were not able to raid the place beforehand because there were no other complaints or other "probable cause." They removed over 400 girls and more than 100 women (who went voluntarily), and a subsequent raid removed additional documents. I know I don't have to tell you how sick and horrible this is, and how the reverence for "faith" and the kneejerk respect for "people of faith" has helped this situation develop to this point.

To that end, next time someone claims to you we need to "respect everyone's beliefs," please remember this:

[Sheriff] Doran said it was not until after the raid began that he learned that the sect was, in fact, marrying off underage girls at the compound and had a bed in its soaring limestone temple where the girls were required to immediately consummate their marriages. Also, investigators said a number of teenage girls there are pregnant.