links for 2009-03-14

Lesbians living in South Africa are being raped by men who believe it will 'cure' them of their sexual orientation, a report has revealed.

Women are reporting a rising tide of brutal homophobic attacks and murders and the widespread use of 'corrective' rape as a form of punishment.

The report, commissioned by international NGO ActionAid, called for South Africa's criminal justice system to recognise the rapes as hate crimes as police are reportedly failing to take action over the spiralling violence.
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And, the SA health minister denied HIV caused AIDS and could be cured with garlic.
Wow!

That part of the ceremony, watched from the safe distance of my office, made me uneasy. The other part — the ostentatious issuance of a memorandum on "restoring scientific integrity to government decision-making" — would have made me walk out.

Restoring? The implication, of course, is that while Obama is guided solely by science, Bush was driven by dogma, ideology and politics.

What an outrage. George Bush's nationally televised stem cell speech was the most morally serious address on medical ethics ever given by an American president. It was so scrupulous in presenting the best case for both his view and the contrary view that until the last few minutes, the listener had no idea where Bush would come out.

Katie Couric, the anchorwoman of the CBS Evening News, has won a prestigious journalism award for making Sarah Palin look like an idiot on national TV.

Couric's September 2008 interview with the Republican vice presidential candidate revealed that, among other things, Palin doesn't read magazines or books, wanted to invade Russia, and believed that Joe Biden was "a type of elk."

Polling data show that Mr. Obama's approval rating is dropping and is below where George W. Bush was in an analogous period in 2001. Rasmussen Reports data shows that Mr. Obama's net presidential approval rating — which is calculated by subtracting the number who strongly disapprove from the number who strongly approve — is just six, his lowest rating to date.
Overall, Rasmussen Reports shows a 56%-43% approval, with a third strongly disapproving of the president's performance. This is a substantial degree of polarization so early in the administration. Mr. Obama has lost virtually all of his Republican support and a good part of his Independent support, and the trend is decidedly negative.
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Not so shocking, now is it?

The Legislature's budget analyst, Mac Taylor, declared today that the immense package of spending cuts, new taxes and loans aimed at closing the state's $40 billion budget deficit will fall short by $8 billion because the state's economy is continuing to falter.

"Unfortunately, the state's economic and revenue outlook continues to deteriorate," the Legislative Analyst's Office (LAO) said in a review of the package, which covered the remainder of this fiscal year and all of the next.
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With new taxes state revenues will decline. Kind of a no brainer.

I've long criticized Maxine Waters for seeming to display a truly astonishing lack of knowledge about the financial system her committee regulates. Apparently, however, she does have some sources in the financial industry:

There are a couple of problems with the "Republican obstructionism" argument. For starters, nominees only need the approval of a majority, and Democrats have 59 votes, not counting Specter, Snowe, Collins, etc. Beyond that, I haven't heard any serious threats to filibuster any nominee so far. All previous cabinet appointments with controversies — Hillary Clinton, Eric Holder, Tim Geithner — all confirmed.