politics

Hooray! It's Friday, the sun is shining (somewhere), and the US House of Representatives has passed the Hate Crimes bill! Says Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay (D) of Missouri:

"This bill is a powerful statement that hate has no place in America. It brings existing Federal hate crimes law into the 21st century by broadening it to include crimes motivated by gender, sexual orientation and disability."

Spread the word! Hate has no place in America, and crimes motivated by gender do indeed count as hate crimes. (What? They weren't love crimes? Who knew?) In all seriousness though, this is great news. Now all those haters out there (I'm talking to you, Virginia Foxx) can shove it. (And go to jail for it.)

By now you might have heard of the Republican protest referencing the Boston Tea Party of 1773 by using tea bag iconography to protest federal tax spending, complete with Tax Day protests occurring around the country. When Wonkette caught wind of the new campaign, they said "The bit about the tea bags, though — that is just not good television." They forgot about Rachel Maddow: Maybe it's cause we're on the West Coast, and it takes a good three hours for us to catch up to ANYTHING in New York, but no Gawker, the joke's not old yet. Tomorrow maybe, but today we can relish in conservative ignorance at its most laughable, and wait for those sweet, sweet, tax returns...

Michelle Goldberg’s groundbreaking book comes in like a lion this April. The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World (Penguin Group) is no ordinary overview.

Goldberg's investigation into the intersection of the war on reproductive freedom and the global war for power spans four continents. From the HIV/AIDS epidemic to female circumcision to overpopulation to infant mortality to abortion rights, Goldberg analyzes how the means of reproduction influences the health of whole societies--even as women's rights have been sidelined by governments and social movements, and even as reproductive rights are weirdly isolated as "women’s issues" only. Goldberg emphasizes how the struggle to control women's bodies is the next great human rights struggle of our globalized world.

Goldberg found time in her travels through Buenos Aires to answer questions for Bitch about this struggle and about her book