The American Library Association may have Banned Book Week, but this weekend, AIPAC kicked off its first banned journalist weekend. That’s right, AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which claims to represent American Jews, but only represents the most hawkish, jingoistic and myopic among us, banned or revoked the press credentials of writers from Alternet,Philip Weiss from Mondoweiss, and Mitchell Plitnick from The Third Way for their yearly conference in Washington D.C. And, what’s more, they haven’t explained why. While I don’t support AIPAC’s decision, I see the logic behind blocking Weiss, Plitnick (after all, why would AIPAC support a blog committed to “Finding Balance In Mideast Analysis”), and Alternet’s world affairs editor, Alex Kane. These three journalists have all been critical of Israeli policy (as have some of the most pro-Israel people out there.) But their banning of Alternet’s Washington DC correspondent Adele Stanmakes no sense, given that she doesn’t even write about Israel. Stanwrites: “On the surface, this looks simply like AIPAC refusing to credential a bunch of writers whose views run counter to its own. But here’s the flaw in that reasoning: I have never written anything particularly critical of Israel. In fact, I’m not sure I’ve ever written anything about Israel, period. I’m just a campaign-trail reporter trying to cover a pretty big event in the U.S. presidential campaign — an event called Super Tuesday.” So what’s behind her being denied access? “Since AIPAC is stonewalling me, I have been left to my own devices. I could be totally off-base here, but how am I to know? Perhaps the issue is simply the range of AIPAC-critical pieces run on AlterNet, starting with Holland’s work, and include articles by Max Blumenthal and opinion pieces by Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin.” But all signs point to  a case of guilt by association and revenge:

… these rejections aren’t specifically about any of the journalists who were rejected, but are about a battle being waged by Josh Block, a former AIPAC staffer, against several bloggers at Middle East Progress, part of the ThinkProgress blog of the Center for American Progress Action Fund, as well as bloggers at Media Matters. It may entail a bit of misplaced retribution for the dumping of Block as a member of the Truman Security Forum, a liberalish national security group, after Block initiated a smear campaign against ThinkProgress and Media Matters bloggers. (After all, we lefties all look alike, non?)

Mischief + Mayhem’s, is “a publishing collective, not a publishing company,” which attempts to democratize the commercialized world of literature. They host a monthly reading series, “Unprintable,”  featuring new work that writers have either refused to publish, been unable to get past industry censors, or finally managed to publish after much difficulty. This month’s reading features  the legendary performance artist, actor, playwright and feminist Penny Arcade. whose works include Bitch!Dyke!Faghag!Whore!, Bad Reputation and La Miseria.

Read more at Feministing

Yesterday, riot police were sent in to handle a group of non-violent demonstrators protesting Virginia’s newly passed forced ultrasound bill. This kindler, gentler violation is over the belly and not through the vagina. Police arrested 31 people, some of whose trials started today. Here are some moving photos and video (via The Atlantic and Political Carnival) of the arrests.

See the video and the photos at Feministing

So far, a total of eight companies– Carbonite, Citrix, Go To Meeting, Legal Zoom, ProFlowers, Quicken Loans, Sleep Number, Sleep Train and, as of today, AOL–have pulled advertising from Rush Limbaugh’s radio show over the Viagra-popping hate jockey’s mysoginist statements about Sandra Fluke, which include calling her a slut and prostitute and imploring her to film herself having sex. The media is saying that Rush Limbaugh has apologized. But I don’t think the following is an apology, do you?

In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke.

I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices. [my emphasis]

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In his play “8,” Academy-award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance (Milk) uses actual court testimonies and media interviews to tell the story of Proposition Eight‘s trial, which sought to block marriage equality. The play premiered and live streamed Saturday in LA, and is directed by Rob Reiner and stars Brad Pitt, Jane Lynch, George Clooney, George Takei, John C. Reilly, Martin Sheen, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Jamie Lee Curtis and more. You can watch the video of the play here:

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It’s pretty funny to see the headline “Wealthy More Likely to Lie, Cheat: Researchers” on a news site owned by and named after the very wealthy Mike Bloomberg. Who knew Bloomberg was so self-critical and introspective?

New research, written up in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, attempts to answer the question “are society’s most noble actors found within society’s nobility?” And the answer found is no. The pursuit of self-interest is a “fundamental motive among society’s elite, and the increased want associated with greater wealth and status can promote wrongdoing,” The Bloomberg article reports that the study found the “wealthy were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work.”

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Whenever I’m arguing with global warming skeptics, I disclaim that  I don’t claim to be an expert in any of the sciences that could prove or disprove global warming. I do, however, have enough common sense to realize that, quite frequently,  global warming deniers are or represent people or interests with potential ulterior motives (money), while global warming believers tend not to have ulterior motives (unless you but buy the Al Gore wants to create mass hysteria thesis, which I don’t) but do tend to have the support of most of the scientific community. So which side is more likely to be telling the truth? If you read what I just wrote, how was it for you? Was it as awkward for you to read as it was for me to write? I’m feeling kind of embarrassed and inadequate right now. You better just take a look at this infographic, posted by  Jess Zimmerman at Grist, which makes the point I’m trying to make.

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Why is it that the same people who want to get all up into women’s vaginas shudder at the mention of the word vagina and are unable to actually say it?

I guess the answer is obvious; the same people who are sadistic enough to make a woman undergo an invasive medically unnecessary procedure whose only goal is to punish a woman for using her vagina for anything but procreation, are probably a little bit uncomfortable with sexuality. But some of these guys wear their vaginaphobia on their… sleeves.

First, Virginia delegate David Albo, who treated the House of Delegates to a musical theater reenactment of his attempt to seduce his wife, complains that just as he was about to seal the deal,

“All of a sudden on my big-screen TV comes this big thing, a picture of a bill that has “Albo” on it. I’m, like, “Wow! Holy smokes! My name, as big as a wall!” And the very next scene was the gentleman from Alexandria’s face, as big as my wall, going “Trans-V blahblahblah, and this. Trans–V this, and trans-V that, and they hate women, and we’re gonna–and that bill–…. And this goes on and on and on…. And the show’s over, and she goes, “I gotta go to bed.”

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The vaginal probing bill should scare everyone and anyone who opposes, well, rape. Sadly, there are some out there, at least in Virginia, who vote for rape. And there are some politicians, at least in Virginia, who say they will actually implement rape. The extreme right likes to pretend that it isn’t extreme, that it represents the mainstream, and that the only people who are against personhood, vaginal probing, and putting aspirin between your knees as a contraceptive are Marxist Feminazis.

Of course, my being against personhood, vaginal probing and aspirin as birth control may actually strengthen their point.

But  ”pro life” Republican Meghan McCain’s  fear of the current misogynist trend among Republicans reminds us that the invasive vaginaphobes are the real extremists.

Yesterday, McCain went on the Maddow show and said:

“I’m pro-life. I’m not pro-vaginal probing. I feel like I have to go on television and delineate between the two things. I’m horrified by the bill as a woman, as a Republican woman, I’m horrified. It scares me that this can go on, it scares me that a woman can be vaginally probed without consent or a doctor’s consent…. Vaginal probing is something that I’ve had friends text me about ‘What does this mean. I’m not into politics but what does this say?’ This is something that will penetrate [no pun intended, I assume] beyond politics….”

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