Women Born Transsexual

The value of the Bluefin Tuna and other endangered beings is not how much money one can get for murdering that animal and selling its body to the overly privileged overly wealthy scum of the world.  The value was in that animal being alive and being able to continue its species.

There is a vast difference between cost/price and value.  Only ignorant arrogant wealthy scum fail to recognize that.

From Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-safina/bluefin-tuna-cost-_b_1190907.html

Carl Safina
Posted: 1/7/12

Here’s how I can tell if an environmental news story has permeated the public consciousness: my 86 year-old mother phones to tell me about it. She doesn’t have a computer, just her morning newspaper. So when she called to read to me that a single bluefin tuna had sold at wholesale auction in Tokyo for a record $736,000, I knew the story had really been heard ’round the world. “Yes, mom,” I said. “I heard about it.”

But here’s the thing that surprised me more: It didn’t wow her. She didn’t think it was the least bit impressive. She thought it was awful. Way to go, mom; love ya.

On the other hand, the media gushed. So did all the people in the story. I thought it was pretty sick, and I’ll tell you why.

The main story was sent by Associated Press and as far as I could tell most of the other media picked up on that story.* It started off, “This tuna is worth savoring: It cost nearly three-quarters of a million dollars.”

Translation: The Associated Press and most people on Earth can know that the tuna is valuable only because of how much money someone paid for it. They don’t seem to understand that the price, cost and value of something are three very different things.

A deep-pocketed self-promoting narcissistic owner of a chain of sushi restaurants paid an irrational price for a fish. That does not make the fish more valuable. It only makes it more expensive.

And in a very real way, this devalues the fish itself.

Continue reading at:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-safina/bluefin-tuna-cost-_b_1190907.html

From Worker’s World: http://www.workers.org/2012/us/pipelines_0112/

By Betsey Piette
Published Jan 8, 2012

Not so hidden in the late December “tax deal” was a provision to force a quick decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline project, which would stretch from the Tar Sands oil extraction project in Alberta, Canada, to the Gulf of Mexico. While first threatening to veto any bill that included the project, President Barack Obama ended up approving the final package with no mention of this environmental threat.

The proposed 1,700-mile pipeline threatens a vital aquifer for millions of people and undermines the rights of many Indigenous nations on whose land it would run. Thousands of people circled the White House in early November to oppose the pipeline.

Trillions of dollars are at stake for U.S. and Canadian companies, including the $100 billion Koch Industries, one of Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters. The Koch brothers also operate Koch Exploration Canada, L.P. devoted to exploring and refining 25 percent of tar sands oil. (Guardian U.K., Sept. 8)

Pipeline promoters claim the project would add 20,000 new jobs. However, an independent Cornell University assessment stated the project might produce between 2,500 to 4,650 temporary jobs lasting two years at best.

Because the project would divert a huge volume of tar sands oil away from Midwest refineries to be sold at higher prices to Gulf Coast and export markets, it would increase prices consumers pay for gasoline and diesel fuel, adding up to $5 billion to the annual U.S. fuel bill. (U.S. News & World Report, Dec.16)

Continue reading at:   http://www.workers.org/2012/us/pipelines_0112/

From The Guardian UK:   http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/jan/06/eurozone-grim-economic-data

Italian bond rates and Spanish jobless numbers rise, while Belgium and four other countries face fines for size of deficits

From The Guerrilla Angel Report by Lexie Cannes:  http://lexiecannes.wordpress.com/2012/01/07/ca-state-legislators-considering-bill-to-allow-trans-students-to-play-on-opposite-birth-sex-school-sport-teams/

Lexie Cannes
January 7, 2012

Reposted with permission

THE GUERRILLA ANGEL REPORT — [UPDATE: The Transgender Law Center reports this bill has been postponed -- see below.] Supposedly, this new bill (or amendment to an existing one) also allows for transgender youth to use opposite sex locker rooms and bathrooms. Very scant details here, but word is California state legislators set a date for hearing in the next few weeks.

I searched the California legislature database and there are a couple of transgender-related education bills in various stages of progress, however, I was not able to confirm which bill it is. I was also unable to find a date for this hearing.

I will update this when more details surface.

Meanwhile, KTXL-TV  reported this statement from Ben Hudson,  the Executive Director of Sacramento’s Gender Health Center: “This is about youth whose gender identity is outside of what their body is, so this allows them full access to sports and other sex-segregated activities inside of schools, which is important as they go through school.”

UPDATE Jan 7. 2012: Kristina Wertz of the Transgender Law Center informed me that the bill is not going forward this year. They want to want to take time to do more education and make sure they are putting forward the best possible bill. She said the Transgender Law Center is deeply committed to ensuring that all students have equal access to schools  and is definitely something that they’ll be working on this year, but not via legislation at this time.

My thanks to Kristina for the update!

———-

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Words of wisdom from a thirteen year old.

From The Telegraph UK: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/relationships/8995815/Why-theres-no-such-thing-as-sex-addiction.html

A much talked about new film tackles the very modern illness of sex addiction. But one leading psychologist has been attacked for suggesting that it isn’t an illness at all – it’s a weakness

From Raw Story: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/08/police-club-young-woman-riding-bike-at-oakland-protest/

By Eric W. Dolan
Sunday, January 8, 2012

Police officers knocked down and clubbed a young woman during an anti-police march in Oakland late Saturday night, and arrested six people.

Video of the incident uploaded to YouTube showed the young woman riding her bicycle towards a small group of officers. As she approached, officers shoved her to the ground and at least one clubs her with his baton.

Protesters quickly rushed to her aid, and dragged her away from police.

From Common Dreams:  http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/08-5

by Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
Published on Sunday, January 8, 2012 by CommonDreams.org

In the latest issue of Orion Magazine, environmental activists Derrick Jensen and Paul Kingsnorth both express their frustrations with the current environmental movement.

Jensen takes movement organizers to task for their drift towards actions that are “fun and sexy.”  ”The fact that so many people routinely call for environmentalism to be more fun and more sexy reveals not only the weakness of our movement but also the utter lack of seriousness with which even many activists approach the problems we face,” he says bitterly.  “When it comes to stopping the murder of the planet, too many environmentalists act more like they’re planning a party than building a movement.”

But let’s face it, there are a lot of people on this planet who find the issues addressed by environmentalism just too scary and depressing to deal with. The environmentalist party-planners are trying to reach these folks, who have been suckled from birth on cheery feel-good media, by presenting environmental action as fun and upbeat, rather than as doom-driven and angst-ridden.  It’s environmentalism on anti-depressants, and it fits a big swath of our population, who don’t want to dwell on anything sad or upsetting, unless maybe it’s a movie guaranteed to ultimately have a happy ending.

Paul Kingsnorth, whose long article in Orion, ”Confessions of Recovering Environmentalist,” will be the subject of an open conference phone callon January 18, is critical of the environmental movement not for being too party-oriented, but for being too “utilitarian.”

Kingsnorth deplores environmentalists who have happily jumped on the technological fix bandwagon–the solar farm, wind farm, sustainable energy crowd.  He sees these folks as engaged in finding new ways to continue our same old depredation of the environment–just more sustainably.

Continue reading at:   http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/01/08-5

From Right Wing Watch: http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/frc-teams-cindy-jacobs-target-2012-elections

From The New York Times Book Review:    http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/books/review/the-anointed-evangelical-truth-in-a-secular-age-by-randall-j-stephens-and-karl-w-giberson-book-review.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

By MOLLY WORTHEN
Published: January 6, 2012

The central question of the culture wars that have raged since the 1970s is not whether abortion is murder or gay marriage a civil right, but whether the Enlightenment was a good thing. Many evangelical Americans think the answer is no, according to “The Anointed,” a field guide to the evangelical experts you haven’t heard of — but should.

Many evangelicals, Randall J. Stephens and Karl W. Giberson say, get their information on dinosaurs and fossils from Ken Ham, an Australian with a bachelor’s degree from the Queensland Institute of Technology. Ham believes human reason should confirm the Bible rather than reinterpret it, and teaches that God created the world a few thousand years ago. His ministry, “Answers in Genesis,” includes a radio program broadcast over more than 1,000 stations, a magazine with a circulation of 70,000 and the ­multimillion-dollar Creation Museum in Kentucky. While other evangelicals — for example Francis Collins, the born-again Christian who runs the National Institutes of Health — offer more nuanced perspectives on science’s relationship to the Bible, Ham commands a far larger audience.

When it comes to history, many evangelicals reject the world-class historians in their own fold — such scholars as Mark Noll and George Marsden, who advocate a balanced account of Christianity’s role in early America — in favor of the amateur David Barton’s evangelical makeover of Washington and Madison.

Why would anyone heed ersatz “experts” over trained authorities far more qualified to comment on the origins of life or the worldview of the founding fathers? Drawing on case studies of evangelical gurus, Stephens and Giberson argue that intellectual authority works differently in the “parallel culture” of evangelicalism. In this world of prophecy conferences and home-­schooling curriculums, a dash of charisma, a media empire and a firm stance on the right side of the line between “us” and “them” matter more than a fancy degree.

Continue reading at:  http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/books/review/the-anointed-evangelical-truth-in-a-secular-age-by-randall-j-stephens-and-karl-w-giberson-book-review.html?_r=1&nl=books&emc=booksupdateema3

From The Advocate:   http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/01/05/Dallas_Community_College_District_Votes_to_Add_Trans_Protections/

By Winston Gieseke
January 05, 2012

During their monthly meeting Tuesday, trustees of the Dallas County Community College District voted to amend their nondiscrimination policies to include protections for gender identity and expression.

The Dallas Voice reports that of the three policies amended, two covered students and one protected employees.

At the meeting, five people spoke on behalf of the issue, after which district board chair Jerry Prater said, “We have gotten your message loud and clear.”

Complete article at:   http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2012/01/05/Dallas_Community_College_District_Votes_to_Add_Trans_Protections/

From The Dallas Voice:   http://www.dallasvoice.com/dcccd-adds-trans-protections-2-1098116.html

Only 1 community college district trustee votes against change

DAVID TAFFET
05 Jan 2012

The Dallas County Community College District board of trustees voted Tuesday, Jan. 3 to add gender identity to the district’s non-discrimination policies. The vote came less than three months after the trustees initially declined to add the specific protections, saying the policies were unnecessary.

The trustees approved three measures this week. The first protects transgender employees from discrimination and harassment, while two additional policies cover students — in the student code of conduct and in the district’s nondiscrimination statement.

The policy change was first proposed last spring when Resource Center Dallas Communications and Advocacy Manager Rafael McDonnell contacted DCCCD Trustee Diana Flores, who has supported the policy change from the beginning.

“It wasn’t difficult at all,” Flores said after the board meeting about convincing her fellow
trustees to support the addition. “The LGBT community did a good job of informing the board. Congratulations to the community.”

Only five speakers addressed the board on Tuesday, although another five had signed up to speak.

Dallas County Community College graduate Brad Shankle offered a unique perspective in his remarks. “I struggled with gender dysphoria, although I found a way to deal with it,” he said, adding that having the policy in place while he was a student would have made campus life easier for him.

Continue reading at:  http://www.dallasvoice.com/dcccd-adds-trans-protections-2-1098116.html