While trying to find a webbed version of FAIR‘s excellent expose of the Boston Globe’s hypocrisy on the David Horowitz saga (they blasted student editors for censoring Horowitz–a feat that is, in fact, impossible, as I have remarked before … and then they themselves refused an ad from an environmental group which criticized Staples), I accidentally stumbled across a great essay of FAIR‘s Women’s Desk back from 1993, Erasing Rape: Media Hype an Attack on Sexual-Assault Research. It’s a skillful refutation of Katie Roiphe’s hatchet job on Mary Koss’s research on acquaintence rape… nothing much new for those of us who have kept track of the research on sexual violence for a while, but definitely a good summary of the criticisms Roiphe (and nearly everyone else who objects to the Koss research) uses, and the reasons why these criticisms are full of it.

Two brothers in Middleburg, PA will face trial for attempted murder in yet another savage anti-gay beating [Advocate.com]. The victim has been left permanently comatose. If you live in Alabama, please call or write your state Representative in support of HB 423, which has just been sent to the House floor for consideration. The bill will add sexual orientation to the provisions of Alabama’s hate crimes bill, and was introduced in response to the similarly brutal 1999 beating death of Billy Jack Gaither.

To find your state representative by your ZIP code, go to http://www.legislature.state.al.us/misc/zipsearch.html and enter your ZIP code. Once you have your Representative’s name, you can contact her/his office by telephone at (334) 242-7600 and asking for her/his telephone extension. You can also contact her/him by snail mail at:

Member’s Name<br/> House of Representatives<br/> 11 South Union Street<br/> Montgomery, AL 36130

Award Overturned in Abortion Doctor Wanted Posters — JACKASSES!

Read the rest of Ruling Against Anti-Abortion Terrorist Site Overturned …

Salon has an interesting article which does a great job of exposing the horror of Stalingrad, as against the theme-park version of it that occupies most of Enemy at the Gates.

By the way, the most outrageous thing about the original self-indulgent marketing crusade is the way they are cynically exploiting the name of Take Back the Night, the world’s oldest and most powerful women’s demonstration against sexual violence. Not to mention the kitschy, self-conscious appropriation of jargon and logos from women’s liberation and other liberation movements to hawk their marketing wares, which sometimes gets so absurd as to defy parody:

As Netizens, we hold certain truths to be self-evident: that the Internet was created and endowed by its Creator with certain unalienable Rights, chief among these: free Access to uncensored Content, the ability to Shop wherever and whenever one chooses and the general pursuit of e-Happiness.

First Revolution became an e-business trade magazine; now we are taking back the Net. And who is we?

Q: Who is ICONOCAST?

A: An Internet media publisher based in San Francisco best known for its weekly ICONOCAST e-marketing newsletter read by 50,000 senior-level marketing executives.

Q: Who is Michael Tchong?

A: Editor and founder of ICONOCAST, Michael is a well-known commentator on Internet marketing and advertising, with more than 20 years of advertising, publishing and software development experience. He is also the founder of MacWEEK magazine.

Oh yeah. All power to the people.