Via the UK Guardian:

Striking similarities between the brains of gay men and straight women have been discovered by neuroscientists, offering fresh evidence that sexual orientation is hardwired into our neural circuitry.

Scans reveal homosexual men and heterosexual women have symmetrical brains, with the right and left hemispheres almost exactly the same size. Conversely, lesbians and straight men have asymmetrical brains, with the right hemisphere significantly larger than the left.

Scientists at the prestigious Stockholm Brain Institute in Sweden also found certain brain circuits linked to emotional responses were the same in gay men and straight women.

The findings, published tomorrow in the US journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest the biological factors that influence sexual orientation - such as exposure to testosterone in the womb - may also shape the brain’s anatomy.

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Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog. Speaking for me only.

Via Der Spiegel (who has done an incredible job in bringing this issue to light repeatedly):

“Ahmad O. stabbed his sister more than 20 times because the 16-year-old girl didn’t live her life according to his values. Women’s rights advocate Seyran Ates is now calling for German society to intensify its efforts to stop honor killings. “A girl isn’t a whore if she goes out,” she says.

Morsal O. was 16, a young girl with joie de vivre. She laughed a lot and she was a go-getter. She was a good student, had ambition and a lot ahead of her in life. But she was murdered on Friday, May 9. Her 23-year-old brother Ahmad, with the help of a cousin, lured her to a parking lot near a subway station in the German port city of Hamburg under a false pretense and stabbed her 20 times with a knife.

If Morsal had known she would be coming face to face with her brother, she probably wouldn’t have gone that evening. The two hadn’t been on talking terms for quite some time, and Ahmed had threatened his sister repeatedly. Just before her murder, Morsal had sought refuge from her family, who moved to Germany from Afghanistan 13 years ago, at a number of city social facilities, most recently living for more than a year in a youth safe house. But she never succeeded in entirely breaking off contact with her family.”

But the family thinks that the brother killed her out of love. I guess for some patriarchal communities, love = entitlement to harassment, threats, assault and ultimately murder, and Ahmad had done all of them against his sister. And because Morsal was resistant to her parents’ authority (unusual, for a teenager, I know!), it was her brother’s job to monitor her closely and he outsourced the job to his extended family.

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A new video from GeekLove of Come A Long Way.

The reasons not to support Obama are plentiful. Here are ten of mine:

1. Obama’s values are not mine. He is an effete liberal, I am a working class progressive.

2. Energy is in my view the most important issue confronting not just the United States but the world. Senator Obama voted for the Bush-Cheney Energy Policy. Obama is a big supporter of ethanol, which frankly, the worst alternative energy source available. For staters, ethanol has very low ROI, about 14%. It takes eight barrels of oil (BOEs) to produce nine BOEs. Obama is a strong proponent of more coal-fired energy plants and received more support from the oil & gas industry than any other candidate. That in an ad in Pennsylvania, he would claim that he doesn’t receive any money from oil & gas companies is but one example of how duplicitious he is. No one does because the Tillman Act in 1907 made it illegal yet he tried to pull a fast one as if he was “new and different.” He’s not. He panders more than the other candidates and frankly lies. Conceived at Selma?

3. He lacks any relevant foreign policy experience. Despite having oversight repsonsibility for Afghanistan, he has yet to call a subcommittee meeting to investigate why we are losing that critical war. His recent comments at AIPAC on Jerusalem’s status were in direct contradiction to long-standing US policy. Had he made that statement as President, he would have set off riots in the Middle East and increased the risk of Americans abroad being targeted by Islamic extremists. Precision in words on matters of foreign policy are paramount. Lives might depend on that.

4. His health care plan is not universal. It would only cover about 60% of those who lack health care coverage now.

5. His duplicitous relationship with lobbyists. It is a shell game. He says he does take money from Washington lobbyist but that’s a ruse because he gets others at those firms who are not Washington lobbyists to contribute.

6. His relationship to radical preachers including the Reverend Wright, the Reverend Meeks and Father Michael Pfleger, all of whom were “spiritual advisors” to Obama and his campaign.

7. His wanting to be all things to all people rather stand for any convictions he might have. Thus he can tell people in Boise that he won’t take their guns away and yet six weeks later tell his donors in San Francisco that he intends to close loopholes on the sale of weapons at gunshows.

8. His position on free trade and his lack of knowledge on economics generally. It is hard to figure to where he stands because he is all over the place. His views on NAFTA, is he for it or against it?

9. It concerns me that he is very sensitive to criticism and I worry about the nature of dissent under an Obama administration. In January 2008, Obama complained to CNN about their coverage and had James Carville and Paul Begala, two Clinton supporters, removed from the their roles as pundits. Senator Clinton got them restored after the Super Tuesday primaries. With a large portion rather pliant and openly pro-Obama, would they go after critics of Obama for expressing their views? Keith Olbermann did just that to Geraldine Ferraro, comparing her to David Duke. I view such attacks as an attempt to silence critics. Then there are his supporters who are not above calling people racists for not supporting Obama or commit acts of vandalism and sabotage. How many websites have been hacked?

10. His rather hypocritical stance on gay rights. He waxes eloquent on gay rights but when push comes to shove we get shoved under the bus. Thus he campaigns with Donnie McClurkin or has the Reverend James Meeks on his campaign staff. He refused to have his picture taken with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and has yet to march in a Gay Pride parade. He also rejected dozens of interview requests with the gay media before finally relenting to one with The Advocate.

I could go on all night, there are many more. Feel free to add others that prevent you from voting for Obama.

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Cross-posted from The Global Sociology Blog. Speaking for me only.

This horrible video is part of a post by Jonathan Turley, who’s not the most gullible guy I can think of. The video is part of a documentary but it is disturbing, so consider yourself warned.

There is a website associated with it which seems to be legit. If this is indeed real and hundreds of children are indeed buried alive for being children of single mothers or other tribal violation, then, it is the definitive repudiation of cultural relativism.

At the same time, it also reflects the Durkheimian notion that in societies with mechanical solidarity (based on similarity rather than differentiation and division of labor), social sanctions for violations of cultural norms tend to be much more severe and purely retributive.

Either way, it is extremely disturbing and apparently downplayed by the Brazilian government and FUNAI (the governmental office that deals with indigenous peoples’ affairs).

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The numbers are staggering.

1/3 of Iowa is impacted by the floods. 83 out of 99 Iowa counties have been declared disaster areas.

36,000 people throughout Iowa had been evacuated from their homes, more than two-thirds of them in Cedar Rapids.

1 million acres of corn production has been lost completely and up to 3 millions acres may be lost. That’s about 7% to 21% of the nation’s top corn producing state’s overall production.

The Iowa River will crest in Iowa City at 31.5 feet. It will remain about 28 feet the rest of the week.

$2 billion dollars in damages in Iowa alone.

The price of corn surges to $7 a bushel. Analysts are predicting $9 a bushel before the end of the summer.

For more on the economic impact of the Iowa floods, see my earlier post Economic Impact of the Iowa Floods

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Captain Michael Ballack booked Germany’s place in the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals with a thunderous free-kick, ending the hopes of Austria despite a valiant effort from the co-hosts in Vienna. In the other match today, Croatia swept through Group B undefeated taking down Poland 1-0. Croatia is the sole undefeated team after three games. Spain and the Netherlands look to match the Croats in their remaining games.

Tomorrow’s Matches
Group C returns to the pitch tomorrow. The Netherlands is already entered for the quarterfinals faces Romania. A win by Romania and they’re in the quarterfinals no matter who wins the intriguing France v. Italy match. A loss by Romania would open the door for either France or Italy.

Quarter-Final Matches
Based on today’s results, Portugal will play Germany and Croatia will play Turkey later this week. Spain and the Netherlands still await their opponents. All scenarios are explained at Last Scenarios Explained on the Euro2008 website.

For more on the matches and the tourney, please visit Euro2008.

South American Qualifiers FIFA 2010 World Cup
The South American qualifiers resume tomorrow with additional games on Wednesday and Thursday. The match of the week is in Belo Horizonte where the fourth placed Brazilians host the second place Argentine squad. Both coaches are under pressure to produce a favourable result. I doubt either team nor their fans will be happy with a tie. A loss for the Brazilians, however, will likely spell the end of Dunga’s tenure as Brazil’s coach. Some of the reaction from Reuters:

RIO DE JANEIRO, June 16 (Reuters) - Brazil came under fire on Monday after their 2-0 World Cup qualifying defeat in Paraguay, with the media furious over the team’s allegedly negative approach.

Headlines such as “Disgrace” and “Another embarrassment for coach Dunga’s team” greeted the side as they returned home for Wednesday’s match against arch-rivals Argentina in Belo Horizonte.

Not even the absence of Kaka, who underwent knee surgery in May, and Ronaldinho, plagued by fitness problems all season, were accepted as mitigating circumstances.

“It’s the first time in football history that Brazil have played defensively against Paraguay and Paraguay have gone out and attacked Brazil,” wrote Fernando Calazans, a columnist in the daily newspaper O Globo.

“We’ve reached the point where we take on Paraguay as if we were the small team and they the big team, the world champions.

“(Brazilian) football is becoming more and more defensive and increasingly based on marking,” he added.

Beaten 2-0 by Venezuela 10 days ago in a friendly tune up, Brazil have lost two games in a row for the first time since 2001.

Dunga, ignoring his country’s tradition for attacking football, fielded four defenders and three defensive midfielders while his opponents, supposedly the underdogs, took the field with three forwards and attacked from the outset.

As for Paraguay, the whole of South America now looks up to them. Sitting atop standings with 13 points, Paraguay is three points ahead of Argentina, four ahead of Colombia and five in front of Brazil. Those four would right now qualify. Venezuela and Chile are tied for fifth with seven points a point behind Brazil.

This Week’s Schedule
17 June 2008
Uruguay v Peru in Montevideo
18 June 2008
Ecuador v Colombia in Quito
Bolivia v Paraguay in La Paz
Brasil v Argentina in Belo Horizonte
19 June 2008
Venezuela v Chile in Puerto La Cruz

A tie or a loss by Brasil coupled with a win by either Venezuela or Chile would drop Brasil out of the four top spots. These games are round six of the CONMEBOL qualifying round. There are 18 rounds total so still a long way to go.

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Charles has invited me to contribute here and I honored to accept. Charles and I share the same interest in global affairs, social justice and progressive politics.

We both strongly believe in the education of girls and the empowerment of women to deal with the most pressing issues of today, starting with gender issues.

And like him, I have nothing really good to think or say about Senator Obama. I am still an enthusiastic supporter of Senator Clinton, for her fighting spirit and her concern for the disadvantaged. But this is not what I will blog the most about.

I am a sociologist. I teach sociology and globalization studies at a large Midwestern college. And I am the owner of The Global Sociology Blog. I also occasionally post at Corrente and the Democratic Daily.

I am also an activist: I am a Kiva lender, I sponsor seven girls through Children International, I do some translating for Free The Slaves.

I plan on cross-posting here on the topics I care most about: global news with a sociological emphasis.

I want to thank Charles for his kind invitation but keep in mind that my opinions and views are my own. I look forward to the discussions here!

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The biggest question is what percentage of the Clinton base will jump ship or simply not vote in November. Exit polls have indicated that number to be anywhere between 20% and over 40% depending on the state. The number tends higher in states like Kentucky and West Viriginia and lower in states like Oregon and Colorado. In the middle are states like North Carolina and Tennessee.

I do believe that Obama will recapture some of the Clinton base but even if he recaptures half of that approximate 6 million disaffected Democratic voters, that’s still 3 million voters he is not going to get. Can Obama win without those 3 million voters? I honestly don’t know yet. It is too early to tell.

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Today marks the first day of gay marriage in California and my warmest congratulations to Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon who today are getting married here in San Francisco.

Newsom planned to preside at the wedding of lesbian rights activists Del Martin, 87, and Phyllis Lyon, 84, the only couple scheduled to receive a marriage license in the city on Monday. As of Friday, nearly 620 couples had booked appointments to obtain licenses at San Francisco City Hall over the next 10 days.

Clerks elsewhere around the state reported nowhere near as high a demand but said they were training volunteer marriage commissioners to officiate at civil ceremonies in anticipation of a surge in business.

Unlike Massachusetts, which legalized gay marriage in 2004, California has no residency requirement for marriage licenses, and that is expected to draw a great number of out-of-state couples. The turnout could also be boosted by New York state’s recent announcement that it will recognize gay marriages performed in other jurisdictions.

A UCLA study issued last week estimated that half of California’s more than 100,000 same-sex couples will get married over the next three years, and an additional 68,000 out-of-state couples will travel here to exchange vows. The study estimated that over that period, gay weddings will generate some 2,200 jobs and $64 million in badly needed tax revenue for the state, which is ailing financially.

That gay marriage will have an economic impact is nice but let us not forget the human impact. Del and Phyllis speak to a life-long relationship spanning over fifty years. That today the state of California celebrates their commitment and their relationship, well there are no words that can adequately express our unadulterated joy. Congratulations to Del and Phyllis!

In Their Own Words

More on this story from the Associated Press:

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Oil hits a new record and I write a new post. Oil today climbed higher on essentially little news. The Federal Reserve of New York did release its Empire State Index indicated that manufacturing activity in New York State continued to weaken in June. The index fell to a negative 8.7 from a negative 3.7 a month earlier. The report is the earliest of several monthly regional snapshots that investors look to for insights on economic activity. The Empire State Index seemed to have put pressure on the currency market, causing the US dollar to slide and that in turn led to a hike in oil prices. Still over the weekend, Saudi King Abdullah meet with the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and said this:

Saudi Arabia will raise oil production to record levels within weeks in an attempt to avert an escalation of social and political unrest around the world. King Abdullah signalled the commitment to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, at the weekend after the impact of skyrocketing oil prices on food sparked protests and riots from Spain to South Korea.

Next month, the Saudis will be pumping an extra half-a-million barrels of oil a day compared to last month, bringing total Saudi production to 9.7 million barrels a day, their highest ever level. But the world’s biggest oil exporters are coupling the increase with an appeal to western Europe to cut fuel taxes to lower the price of petrol to consumers.

Saudi Arabia, which has called an emergency meeting of oil producers and consumers in the port city Jeddah next Sunday, says the energy crisis has not been caused purely by market pressures but by a speculative bubble. Saudi Arabia and Opec believe there are no shortages to justify the sudden surge in prices.

Despite this news out of Saudi Arabia, the markets shrugged it off. In Britain, Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the price of oil:

“the most worrying situation in the world”.

I can’t argue with that.

An A-ha Update
Reading the press, I quite couldn’t put a finger as to the why oil prices spiked so. The dollar’s slide based on the Empire State Index is a partial start but the report out of Saudi Arabia to increase oil production should have been a countervailing pressure on the market. And it wasn’t. So why? Here’s the why:

The latest price hikes dashed hopes in consuming nations that promises by Saudi Arabia, Opec’s largest oil producer, to pump another 200,000 barrels a day from next month would take some of the heat out of the market. “They have to increase by north of 1 million barrels a day (in order to have an impact on prices) and the market doesn’t think they have it,” said James Cordier, president of Liberty Trading Group in Tampa, Florida.

Markets tend to be rational. In this case, the markets doesn’t believe that oil suppliers can keep up with demand, thus the price has to rise.

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