It’s the first day of the Supreme Court’s 2013 term. Head over to SCOTUSblog to read about what’s coming up.
Category: womens issues
Fallen Disney Princesses
These photographs by Dina Goldstein are great; I especially love the Rapunzel one. There’s a short interview where the creator explains how her princess-obsessed daughter was her motivation behind the series. I did several comic strips along the same line during my Six Chix days. Here’s the title page from the chapter “Happily Ever After” in my book, Humor’s Edge:
Helen Thomas 1920 -2013
Journalist Helen Thomas died yesterday at the age of 92. A tenacious and outspoken trailblazer for many young female reporters, Thomas covered the White House for over fifty years. Her career unfortunately ended in controversy but I will forever remember and thank her for this exchange with then White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. If only all journalists approached their jobs like Helen did. 
Dear Malala: I am writing this letter to explain why we tried to kill you
In a bizarre development, a senior member of the Pakistani Taliban has written a letter to Malala Yousafzai explaining why the Taliban tried to murder the then 15 year-old school girl. The handwritten, rambling, 4-page letter (which jumps around from British colonialism to pointing out that Henry Kissinger is Jewish) insisted that she was not targeted because of her support for education, but because of her “smearing campaign” against the Taliban. Last Friday Malala delivered a very inspiring speech at the United Nations supporting girls’ education and received a standing ovation. It’s as though the Taliban just realized that they need to launch a PR campaign to fix their misogynistic image.
Children having children
Apparently, Chile has it’s own version of Gov. Rick Perry:
“Chilean President Sebastian Pinera has praised as ‘brave and mature’a pregnant 11-year-old rape victim who said she was happy to have the child.” (BBC news)
*Update- the Texas House voted in favor of the 20 week ban on abortion, moving it to the Senate where it’s expected to pass.
Gov. Perry’s reaction to Wendy Davis’ filibuster
While the Supreme Court was concluding their historic 2012 session, there was another important political story last week taking place in the Texas legislature. State Senator Wendy Davis led a 11 hour filibuster against a restrictive anti-abortion bill, which resulted in Gov. Rick Perry calling for another special session after time ran out before the bill could be voted on. Since the drama unfolded last Wednesday, the I-can’t-remember-the-third-one Texas governor has been following the Todd Akin model, giving a speech to a Right to Life group where he mentioned that since Ms. Akin had been a teen-age mom herself and said that it’s “unfortunate that she hasn’t learned from her own example”.
animation: Rick Perry’s condescending response to Wendy Davis’ filibuster