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Hyp–Hyp–Hypocrisy!

February 10, 2012 /0 Comments/in /by

From Saturday’s NY Times: “Although Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been leading the national fight against requiring Roman Catholic hospitals, universities and charities to cover birth control in their health insurance plans for employees and students, some Catholic institutions in his own diocese and others throughout New York State have for 10 years been complying with state law mandating precisely that coverage. The state began requiring contraception coverage in 2002, and Catholic institutions, after losing a court battle over the issue, have followed the law. . . . ‘We currently follow New York State law,’ Mr. Howe [Fordham’s director of communications] said. ‘For employees and students, we provide insurance coverage that includes contraception. That’s the law.'”

Governor of New York State in 2002? Republican George Pataki.

It’s pretty obvious the Catholic bishops’ opposition to the Obama’s administration’s policy of requiring contraceptive coverage is really all about opportunism, and trying to give President Obama a hard time.

Such hypocrisy.

Hey, It Is the Twenty-First Century

February 9, 2012 /0 Comments/in /by

Feb. 10 Update: I think the White House’s accommodation on this issue–announced a few hours ago–is smart. Though the right-wing opposition to contraception won’t be quelled, it should accomplish the goal of all American women having equal access to contraceptives, with insurers absorbing the cost rather than employers, if the latter claim a religious objection to providing them. Although the health insurance lobby will object, insurers should accept this because it’s preventative care, always less expensive than the alternative, such as a pregnancy or the cost of an abortion. Politically, this will force the many right-wing politicians who’ve been raising a flurry about the administration’s policy to show their true colors–whether their objection is really one founded on religious freedom, as they’ve claimed, or simply stems from the regressive urge to block women’s access to reproductive choice.

I recognize that progress in human history isn’t inevitable, but we are living in the 21st century–oral contraceptives have been widely able since the 1970s, and we shouldn’t be going backwards. Yet you wouldn’t know it judging by how willing (mostly male) politicians are to take medical advances away from women that have been available for decades. As Irin Carmon wrote in Salon this week,

“Why are we still arguing about contraception in 2012? The Catholic bishops are free to make as many incendiary comments as they want, and they have, but that doesn’t mean that pundits should assume there’s a constituency beyond a bunch of celibate men and likely Republican voters that is actually going to be swayed by this. New polling on the topic shows, for example, that ‘a 53 percent majority of Catholic voters … favor the benefit, including fully 62 percent of Catholics who identify themselves as independents.’” // more. . .

“Something Fierce” Wins Canada Reads: True Stories

February 9, 2012 /0 Comments/in , /by

Congratulations to friends Emiko Morita, Jesse Finkelstein, and Scott McIntyre of Douglas & McIntyre Publishers of Vancouver for their book Something Fierce: Memoirs of a Revolutionary Daughter by Carmen Aguirre being named winner of the “Canada Reads: True Stores” competition on CBC! It was brilliantly championed in this week-long on-air debate by musician Shad. The runner-up was Ken Dryden’s timeless hockey classic The Game. Other finalists during the week were On a Cold Road: Adventures in Canadian Rock by Dave Bidini, longtime member of the great band The Rheostatics; The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival by John Valliant; and Prisoner of Tehran, a memoir by Marina Nemat. Hour-long discussions and debates on the five books have been held each day this week, carried on CBC Radio One, and on the CBC website, with each finalist championed, not by its author, but by an advocate. TV personality Alan Thicke boosted The Game, for instance, and also did a great job.

This was the first year Canada Reads was devoted to nonfiction books. The process began a few months ago with a longlist of fifty books, and through readers and fans voting for their favorite books, the crop was reduced to the shortlist of five. Despite issues I had with the judging at times seeming too much of a reality show, with books being eliminated one by one, and one advocate who I simply came to loathe, I think a months-long national reading fest like this is a great way to raise the awareness of books and reading among the widest possible population. I don’t suggest that the U.S. do this precisely, but initiatives with entire cities reading the same book have been quite successful. As members of the U.S. book community we certainly ought to continue experimenting with ways to heighten the visibility of great books and reading. Winners of Canada Reads invariably become huge national bestsellers. I find time after time that U.S. cultural industries–publishing and music especially–have a lot to learn from the ways that Canada promotes its arts and artists.

Something Fierce will be published in the US in August. I am getting a copy from D&M and will be writing about on this site.

[Feb. 10-This post has been updated with new information from the publisher in Vancouver about the forthcoming edition.]

Easy on the Eyes

February 8, 2012 /0 Comments/in /by

I recommend a computer add-on called F.lux to spare your eyes & improve your onscreen life, for MAC, Linux, and Windows. It calibrates monitor brightness to your location and time of day. I’ve been using it for several months and really like the mellowing effect, especially when I work evening hours. You can read about it and download it at this link. Oh, and it’s free. Props to @herf and @lorna for making this useful program.

Ari Fleischer, Gone But Not Forgotten

February 3, 2012 /4 Comments/in /by

Update: A day after reporting Fleischer’s role in advising Komen, ThinkProgress’s Judd Legum is now reporting that Fleischer’s role with Komen is ongoing–he’s still advising them. Komen is paying the ex-Bushie to help them try to recover from the public relations disaster of this past week. Our donations to Komen at work. #WontBeFooledAgain.

As I wrote on this site a month ago in “George W. Bush, Skunk at the Party” Republican candidates this year have shunned W.’s memory and never mention his administration. I was struck by this again tonight in reading Judd Legum’s report in ThinkProgess that Ari Fleischer, W.’s longtime press secretary, advised the Komen Foundation in December 2011 on hiring a Senior V-P for Communications and External Relations–a reader points out it seems they may have anticipated dealing with bad press from a controversy such as de-funding Planned Parenthood. Even while many right-wingers feign amnesia, a salutary result of the Komen scandal would be if it serves to remind voters that though W. and his minions are gone from the West Wing we must remember the baleful influence of the Bush presidency lest the country fall under its malign spell again.

#Fridayreads/Feb. 3

February 3, 2012 /1 Comment/in , /by

#fridayreads ‘Out of the Vinyl Deeps: Ellen Willis on Rock Music,’ a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle (NBCC) annual award in criticism–I’m always good for some rockin’ music essays. Also, ‘The Disposable Man,’ one of Archer Mayor’s superb Joe Gunther police novels set in Brattleboro, VT. Great cop, great story.

Putting Printed Books and Ebooks on Equal Footing

February 1, 2012 /1 Comment/in , , , , , /by

With indie record labels now routinely making downloads of music available to buyers of vinyl LPs, I’m heartened to see a similar strategy taking hold among indie publishers too, with regard to ebooks and printed books. . . . With the print book and ebook initiative announced today, Coach House has demonstrated their continuing relevance, if it were needed–and that of publishers like them– in the burgeoning digital age that publishing has entered. I wonder how long it will be before big, commercial houses are also routinely making ebooks available, or some digital product, available with purchase of a new book. Meantime, congratulations to Coach House Books for leading the way. // more. . .

Neil Young, Musical Hero

January 31, 2012 /0 Comments/in /by

Neil Young, who has for quite awhile been vocally decrying the sound of much recorded music nowadays said this at a tech conference today: “Steve Jobs was a pioneer of digital music. His legacy is tremendous,” Young said. “But when he went home, he listened to vinyl (albums),” as reported by the AP.

In other Neil news, a recently recorded 37-minute Crazy Horse session is burning up the Internet, http://www.neilyoung.com/. For now, we’ll have to listen to it in a compressed digital file, but it still sounds pretty great. I bet this will be part of a new Crazy Horse release soon, and available on vinyl.