Latin American Studies Association hopes Obama will embrace the opportunity to inaugurate a new period of hemispheric understanding and collaboration for the common welfare.

Palin and Clinton can be differentiated based on their respective relationships with castration. The phallus is symbolically removed by the Law that orders the mother, through the intermediary of the child, not to give it to herself. Palin exalts the complete power of a mother who swallows her children and who effectuates a denial of the Law's prevalence. Clinton, meanwhile, remains stuck in a stage that precedes the feminization of society. She wants to compete with men. She occupies a classic feminist position: She holds herself up as being worthier than a man to carry the phallic signifier. Her activity is limited to struggling for a place within the same structure. Palin, though, no longer imitates men. She carries out a post-feminist maneuver in which gender confrontation no longer exists—we are no longer fighting the war between the sexes.
—Tülay Umay and Jean-Claude Paye at [...]More

Columbus Day reflections…

Governor Palin: no intention to hire any minorities in her Alaska administration. More

Chicago sheriff won't evict another person from a foreclosed home: "Since the federal government’s plan to rescue the country seems to ignore homeowners, at least one man, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, has decided he will start policing with his own kind of justice."

ACORN under attack for voter fraud… but is it justified?

Microfinance projects come home: Jewish Funds for Justice to offer micro-loans to New Orleans small businesses.

 More

Wal-Mart volunteers: teenagers in Mexico work without pay

Institute for Policy Studies shows where to find $900 billion from Wall Street SpeculatorsMore

Habana Outpost, part Cuban restaurant, part non-profit, opens its doors to teach students about environmentalism and creative ways to conserve energy— including a bike powered blender. 

Send a photo to Iraq to support the Week of Nonviolence.

Matthew Shepard, 10 years later: The need for the [Matthew Shepard] law is as urgent now as it was in 1998. Hate crimes against the LGBT community increased 24 percent nationwide last year, according to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs. Especially startling increases occurred in Michigan (up 207 percent), Minnesota (up 135 percent) and even in Los Angeles, which saw a 100 percent increase in anti-gay violence in 2007.More