Linkety link link

Wow, I've managed to pile up quite a backlog of interesting links, questions, and friendly hellos. Email is teh awesome; email is teh devil. Sans further ado, here's some reading matter for you. You weren't going to get any work done today anyway, were you?

Congressmen try living on food stamps--and blog about the experience.

Yesterday, I didn’t eat anything at all until lunchtime, and that really took a lot out of me. So far today I’ve had some cottage cheese, a cup of coffee and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I think that now that my body has had some time to adjust, it’s a little easier, but my energy level is still noticeably lower than normal.

As people have read and begun to talk to me about our small effort to bring attention to a very big concern, I was surprised by how many people I work with at a small cancer nonprofit have faced this personally.

Another survey of blog readers by a grad student in Poli Sci. If you can do one good thing today, helping a grad student with her dissertation is a noble cause. Please don't discuss the survey in comments--'twill bias the results--and know that any identifying demographic info asked for will be stripped from your specific answers by the software.

Lindsay the Fabulous rakes the muck about Bush's disgraced "birth control czar" Eric Keroack. You know, the birth control = abstinence guy.

Nancy Goldstein, who is a most fabulous chica with a most fabulous wife, reviews Michael Beschloss's book about "Presidential Courage." Find out what she thinks of his glowing story of Republican heroism through the years.

Some good folks are pushing a UN Treaty for Women's Rights. Tell your senators to ratify the thing already 'cause women are people too.

How are those bitchy chicks with PhDs doing in Universities? See what Ms. has to say.

Remember how grateful we all were to Cecilia Fire Thunder for stepping up when it looked like South Dakota women were going to be the first on the "no abortions, nohow" list? Let's not be all white about it: continue to support Indian women in South Dakota (and wherever you live), one third of whom will be raped in their lifetimes. We all know that reservations are some of the worst ghettos in America, and that the consequences of poverty usually fall hardest on women. Pony up.

Hopefully you're aware of the Walter Reed scandal, because I'm not up to filling you in. It's just the tip of a much larger iceberg of bullshit (bad metaphor alert!) in how the Bush Administration and its biggest fans, the Religious Right treat military vets.

Okay, enough bad news. Here's some great news: the fabulous Miss Flea, who continues to be my role model in all things blogular (a role model I'm well aware I haven't been living up to of late), is expanding her empire. And we, the seekers of free first-class content are the beneficiaries. She's guest blogging at Feministe and runs a brand-new sex column over at Offsprung, Neal Pollack's new online parenting magazine for people like us. Amanda's got a gig over there, too, covering politics without having to worry about whether or not she ruffles the panties of cranky Catholic Bill Donohue. I have to admit that I am fighting back feelings of green, green envy.