Johnson wasn't impeached by his own party as Epps implies in the sentence "even though Bush has most of Johnson's flaws, he runs almost no risk of being impeached by his own party." Johnson was a Democrat impeached by Republicans--just like Bill Clinton!

Maybe Epps meant that Johnson was impeached by the party of the Republican-headed "National Union" ticket he was elected on. Lincoln cleverly split the Democrats in '64. He got one to sign on as his running mate. That Lincoln was one smart cookie all right.

Fernando Poo is in EQ, you know. fnord

Just remember the last time Virginia fucked up bad, they lost a big chunk of territory that became a new state. It can happen again if you keep pushing this shit.

Tell old Pharaoh let my people go.

I'm a Muslim woman and have been working on Islamic feminism for years. Nothing in the survey is really news. That Western feminists would feel surprised Muslim women aren't complaining about "the veil" reveals how out of touch they are with what Islamic feminists have been saying for years. I keep from hearing Muslim feminists about what they want from Western feminists: Stop superimposing a Western model of what feminism should look like, listen and understand our specific needs if you want to help.

Feminism already has a strong basis within the sources of Islam itself, within the Qur'an and the Prophet's sunnah. Feminism has made progress in Muslim societies only when it works from within the tradition. When Muslims feel Western values are being imposed from outside--from countries like the USA that have brought armies and occupation, but little understanding of Islam--they will quite naturally resist what they see as imperialism. This has been a hard lesson for Western feminists to learn, understandably wanting to rush to help rescue their sisters from oppression.

The best thing a Western feminist who wants to help her Muslim sisters could do is first of all just be quiet and LISTEN. Understand that Muslim women have their own unique voices that have rarely ever been heard in public. They are just now beginning to find their voices and articulate their needs.

What I hear Islamic feminists calling for is equality of opportunity in voting, education, health care, employment, an end to honor killings. You know, things that really matter. The more they hear Western feminists obsessing about "the veil" (which is usually not a veil anyway), they must wonder how frivolous these women are, always talking about clothes when there are more substantial matters. In the Islamic world, the most effective feminists often wear traditional clothes with their heads covered, others go bareheaded--either way, nobody even cares about it! It's nothing but a distraction from the real feminist issues.

Why does the poll find that most Muslim women don't feel they're oppressed? Probably because there is no overt oppression in their lives. Honor killings or denial of girls' education are not a widespread part of most people's lives in say Indonesia or Morocco or Iran. These incidents of serious oppression affect only a minority of Muslim women, and are found only in pockets here and there. It does not directly touch the lives of most Muslim women.

From their own point of view, they lead a secure and affirming existence within a warm and close-knit family and social structure. I often hear them express pity for Western women who in their view lead lives of cold alienation and anomie in an uncaring world without a strong family structure to lend emotional support. Maybe in their view, feminism should address Western women's emotional needs better. Maybe they should send teams of Islamic feminists here to enlighten us, as we're backward in this regard in comparison to them. As a Western Muslimah participating in both worlds, I see each culture looking at the other, trying to connect, but unable to see from the other's point of view.

Please just remember that Muslim women have their own voices. If you want to help, listen and encourage other Westerners to listen. Help Muslim sisters get their word out and let them speak to the world for themselves. In my feminism, I keep coming back to the same point: Listen to the Muslim women. No one has ever listened to them before. Now is their time to be heard.

I'm a feminist who has always cringed at misogynist humor-- but this looks different. Maddox openly admits the jig is up for machismo, and that's the reason for making fun with it--to make it easier for guys to say goodbye to it. That's it's so far gone, they might as well have fun with the memory as it recedes into the past.

Maddox sounds sanguine that his readers are all in on the joke as he laughs his way to the bank. Well, I sure hope so. It's better to laugh it off in retrospect than go all fascist about it. This all reminds me of nothing so much as Twisted Sister: mild-mannered guys pretending to be way scarier than they are.

I'll say one thing for Ms. Straight and her carnivorous clan who have stepped out of the pages of Jean Auel: Another reminder of why I like being vegetarian. Straight's verbal deconstruction of fast food is some hard-hitting prose. She just made me realize I never go near any of that stuff, how many culinary bullets I have dodged this way. What I've been missing.