Category — Political Economy

The Path to The Handmaid’s Tale: “

While Planned Parenthood is sounding the alarm about an imminent frontal assault on Roe v. Wade from the Bush Administration, today we see instead how it’s going to play out — the end of choice via small and sly nibbles. Flexing post-election muscle, the Senate Republican leadership has just inserted into a must-pass $388 billion omnibus spending bill, an anti-abortion provision that could have broad reach…allowing hospitals and other healthcare providers to duck a responsibility to provide abortion services across the country. This won’t stop people with money from getting abortions; this will only affect those women least able to expand their families.

If you think abortion rights are someone else’s concern; think again. Do you have sexual relations? Do you believe the decision on whether or not to procreate rests with you and your partner? Do you think that the U.S. Attorney General should have final control of your body, your fertility? This is how it is about to be. These are small steps that lead straight down the path to The Handmaid’s Tale.

You have grown up in a society where women’s physical autonomy has been a given. I did not. I am only a couple decades older than you. I remember the terror of a missed period. The shame of a girlfriend who was banished from high school. A college couple’s frantic gathering of money for a drive into the night. You don’t want to have to live like that. Believe me.

Eight female Senators objected to the provision, including Republican Olympia Snowe of Maine and Democrat Barbara Boxer of California who has vowed to stand in the way of the bill. Support California Senator Barbara Boxer and maintain vigilance for the other indirect tactics that will surely follow.

-RH

addendum:

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi had this to say today on the floor:

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to the Weldon amendment, an extraordinary sneak attack on women’s rights and a disgraceful display of ideology over health.“
“This language is a radical change in policy that the House has not debated on the floor, and the Senate has never considered, debated, or voted on. Republicans simply slipped it into the appropriations bill when they thought no one was looking.
“If a hospital, health insurance company, or doctor opposes Roe v. Wade, they could simply ignore it. Ignore it. This is the law of the land. A Constitutional right could simply be ignored.”

“

(Via Girl In the Locker Room!.)

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i think this is one of the most cogent points made on this topic of late. just how long will it be until the ability to bear children is so heavily legislated that we end up in the handsmaid tale?

Secret Laws: “

Almost 2000 years BC, Hammurabi put Babylon’s laws in writing for the first time ever “so that all men might read and know what was required of them.” 4000 years later, the U.S. government is making public laws passé, according to an excellent article by Steve Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. When former Representative Helen Chenoweth-Hage (R-Idaho) faced a security guard pat-down before flying, she demanded to see the regulation authorizing the search. One government official responded “That is called ’sensitive security information.’ She’s not allowed to see it, nor is anyone else.”

“

(Via The Project On Government Oversight (POGO) Blog.)

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there can’t be secret laws in a free society. there cannot.

EFF: Deep Links: “”

(Via .)

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the people stealing documents need to grow up and accept differing opinions. this is 3rd grade stuff.

I despise Wal*mart: “Having stood atop the Pyramid of the Sun at ancient Teotihuacan, in awe of the vast and stunning metropolis that has dominated the skyline for thousands of years, I could weep at the mere thought of the Wal-Mart that opens next month only 1.6 km away.

(Via Purse Lip Square Jaw.)

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shopping wins….. yep, in a consumer culture…. it does, and sometimes with horrid results.

At such times, in place of the voice of duty which no longer peaks in men’s hearts, the cheifs are forced to substitute the cry of terror or the lure of some apparent interest by which they deceive their creatures. At such times one has to have recoruse to all the petty and contemptible ruses they call maxims of state and secrets of the cabinet. Rousseau Discourses on Political Economy….

Broadcasters Try to Steal More of the Public Domain, This Week at WIPO: “

Many of you will remember the broadcasting industry’s efforts to push a power-grabbing treaty through the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). If the broadcasters have their way, the treaty will:

• Give broadcasters copyright privileges over material they did not create, but merely broadcast, including control over public domain material. They would get these powers for up to 50 years.
• Make it illegal to circumvent technology locks that enforce broadcasters’ control over what users can do with broadcasts.

And if a small group of webcasters gets their way, they’ll get these powers too.

In the last session the pro-treaty forces were pushing to move to the final stages of negotiation, while the developing countries in opposition were trying to slow down the process to get rid of the most odious positions.

The round of negotiations this week is more of the same, except that now there are even more civil society NGOs in attendance and WIPO recently welcomed a “Development Agenda” that explicitly acknowledges the need for these treaties to promote access to the public domain, not inhibit it. On the other side, the webcasters are making an extra hard push, and there still isn’t a great deal of transparency and media coverage to keep the dogs at bay.

Stay tuned. Union for the Public Domain has two people here to make the arguments for the public domain, and we’ll be posting daily updates to the UPD site (http://public-domain.org), including detailed notes on everything that happens in the assembly hall. In the meantime, don’t hesitate to contact your country’s copyright office to urge them to take a stand against this treaty.

(For more details on the treaty, see: http://www.public-domain.org/node/view/47)”

(Via Union for the Public Domain -.)

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so…. if i were a registered broadcaster, and i rebroadcast c-span stuff in a unique format, it would then be mine? neat…… not really. this is a real butchering of copyright and ownership.

EA Faces Class-Action Overtime Suit News Story From 1UP.com: “”

(Via .)

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sometimes….. you have to sue for economic justic.

Ten Theses on the Multitude and Post-Fordist…:

Ten Theses on the Multitude and Post-Fordist Capitalism [Virno]

Paul Virno gives us 10 theses…. not quite 99 theses…. but it is a start.

Lessig “Where is the political party that demands respect for principles that I thought were fundamental.” [Scripting News]

It must be time to hand out copies of Nietszche again, because some people still seem to think that principles are fixed and not mere functions of transvaluation… Lessig though has some points in his short essay that are worth considering on your own as he is comparing soviet systems to our current state, which in my opinion is looking more and more alont the lines of stalinism than anything else, but who knows what tomorrow brings.

Well two of the books that were gifted to me for xmas were the new version of McLuhan's Mechanical Bride put out by Gingko press and Marcuse's Technology, War, and Fascism edited by Doug Kellner. Both have been fascinating reads so far. Though I admit that I have been reading a bit too much fiction, I'm working through David Lodge right now, it is hilarious especially his work on academics.