The State of Texas awaits the jury's decision on his sentence, but even the NYT cared enough about the outcome of the Eldorado, Texas, trial to report the verdict. The jury found him guilty in fewer than four hours.

Seen in an AP photo, below, as he was escorted away from the courthouse, Jessop could be sent to a Texas prison for up to 20 years. San Angelo Standard-Times' coverage indicates evidence confirming his paternity of a 4-year-old girl caused fireworks in the courtroom.

And if you want to know why it is my hope that Mr. Jessop meets, up close and in person, the tender mercies of the TDCJ inmates regarding child rapists, read this excerpt regarding what happened to the girl he raped.

The ranch first came to national attention a year and a half ago when the Texas authorities descended on it, seeking a girl who had complained in a telephone call to a San Angelo women’s shelter that she was being sexually abused. The girl was never found, and the Texas Rangers acknowledge that the tip was a hoax.

But in the course of executing search warrants, social workers and the Rangers uncovered evidence that at least a dozen girls had been coerced by church elders to serve as wives to older men. Seven had borne children.

The prosecutor, Assistant Attorney General Eric Nichols, put several Rangers on the stand along with a former member of the church to introduce several church documents seized from a vault on the ranch.

Since the woman said to be the victim, who is now 21, did not testify, Mr. Nichols used the documents, along with her photo album, to prove she lived with Mr. Jessop as one of his wives and was impregnated by him when she was 16.

The state’s case also rested heavily on genetic evidence that showed there was a 99.9 percent chance Mr. Jessop was the father of the child, who is now 4.

In his closing argument, Mr. Nichols attacked the theory that the teenager had consented to be Mr. Jessop’s wife. “Any act of sexual assault is a horrendous crime,” he said, “but an act of sexual assault on a child is of such an extreme nature we don’t even consider whether the victim was able, much less did, consent.”

One of the most damning pieces of evidence presented in court was a written record of Mr. Jeffs’s instructions in August 2005 not to take the girl to a hospital even though she had been struggling in labor for three days at a clinic on the ranch.

“I knew the girl, being 16 years old, if she went to the hospital, they could put Raymond Jessop in jeopardy of prosecution as the government is looking for any reason to come against us there,” Mr. Jeffs was quoted as saying.

Some of the most revealing testimony came from another witness for the prosecution, Rebecca Musser, a former member of the church who had been married to Rulon T. Jeffs, the sect’s founder and the father of Warren Jeffs. She left the church in 2002 after the elder Mr. Jeffs died.

Ms. Musser testified that Mr. Jeffs had controlled every aspect of the women’s lives, including how they dressed and what they ate. He also controlled whom they married and when.

“Age was not a factor,” she said. “It was when the prophet deemed she was worthy.”

If there's a hell, maybe God will see fit to send Warren Jeffs to burn in it forever.
He's the instigator, the 'spiritual leader', the head of this 'church' -- he's the FLDS version of Rush Limbaugh, with his portrait everywhere, including where women in childbirth must see it.

There are 11 more indictments in Schleicher County. May FSM, Ceiling Cat and all the gods protect and bless District Judge Barbara Walther, the prosecutors, the investigators, and the victims whose lives these "religious leaders" destroyed.

There's a post at Whenceforth Progress on a related matter -- the other news out of Texas yesterday that made national headlines. We know that 13 people were slain and 30 wounded when a US Army Major opened fire inside the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood. What we don't know yet is why.

But if, as rumor has it, religion played a part --

Courage comes in many shapes and sizes.

Rebecca Musser, an attractive, poised blond in her early 30s who left the sect, testified Jeffs pressured her to marry again soon after the death of her spiritual husband, who was a church leader and Jeffs’ father.

“Within one month of his father’s death, he started marrying his father’s young wives,” Musser said during a hearing out of earshot of the jury.

Then in her mid-20s, she butted heads with Jeffs because she didn’t want to remarry, she testified in the trial of Raymond Merril Jessop, 38, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

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The forced-birthers are out in force in the blogosphere, looking for federal funding of abortions in the bill, so I thought I'd help them out.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The public plan and the exchange[s]

Oh well, at least it doesn't prohibit abortion coverage outright.

Goddess E has just one of many examples of how the SuperFreaks mostly write dumb books filled with generalizations and incorrect, unscientific conclusions. FWIW, I never thought "Freakonomics" was very impressive or persuasive. It annoyed me that my Republican gf thought it was the best thing since sliced bread, when she read it. It annoys me more that she's not alone.

CC declines comment, but I didn't.

it's a class marker. non-elite women serve the "whore" function, it's how the elites define non-elites when not defining us "baby oven" or "handmaiden." elites can pay to have the real thing made, and it sets them apart, special. the semi-celebrity associated with the costume itself, and the social capital that creates, is reserved for elites. now, i don't define Con fans who do this as elite, as most of the time they do it themselves and it's almost an art these days, and surely a craft. but speaking simply as a status marker among the elite, it is on purpose that non-elite women rarely have access to the real costume, and frequently offered whore-esque "choices."

I'd like to start by saying i'm a longtime reader of graphic literature and speculative fiction of a wide range of genres.

The Patriarchy is hard at work here, employing a pretty wide range of tools here, tools which are literal pressures upon the shape of a woman, the way she shapes herself and is shaped.

McClatchy:

Sex trade is thriving in Costa Rica

Translation:

Economic crisis forces women to sell their bodies in Costa Rica

The happy double entendre talk--"a stimulus effect on Costa Rica's famous sex-tourism industry", "popular prostitution hot spots", "Costa Rica's position as an international hub for prostitution" eventually gives way (perhaps the reporter got his rocks off and decided to do his job) to some harsh realities:

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Fuckers. They won't let me embed. Oh well, it's not about the video. Portishead. Only the Blood can appreciate their depths. No, I'm not a "Twilight" fan. Heh.

Melissa McEwan provides an important overview. It isn't just our political system that's broken, although it would be naive to believe that our political and economic systems aren't affected by our culture.

Tristero recently caused a bona fide flame war at the normally staid and Serious Hullaballoo comment community, in those two posts about food. I didn't really find too much of what he said outrageous or stupid, and I respect the fact that he came right out and admits that he eats what he likes because it tastes good. I confess I didn't think the Hullaballoo community had it in them, way to sling that pizza across the lunchroom, kids!

I just wanted to make a couple remarks and see what others think, because I believe that food is a critically important topic in many political debates, from those on the environment, health care, racism and more.

From my perspective, it's beyond obvious that far too many Americans aren't eating well. I was shocked, moving to this Heartland community where I now live, by the contrast of people's shapes here, vs places like DC and Chicago. That is, people in flyoverland really run to fat, in my eyes. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but the 'beautiful body' culture of my previous environment is almost nowhere to be found here, except among the Greek set of the local big state university. And I suspect those young women are not unfamiliar with some unhealthy food habits like binging and the dangerous, speedy drugs that make crash dieting an easy task.

Anyway, I bet I could get most of you to agree that the problem isn't just a regional one, and that there are many areas in which the quality of our food and the habits people have consuming it could be improved. But as the comments at those two posts remind me, a lot of people seem to have the attitude of "You can take my daily Twinkie when you pry it out of my cold, dead hands." What can be done to change that?

Further, I guess I don't understand the idea that people like me are overly righteous food snobs. Do people really want to have diabetes and be obese? I can't believe that. I understand that not all people have good food choices, but I would hope that if they did, they'd make them, at least most of the time. I'd also think people would enjoy the benefits that come with "progressively produced" food, organics and locally grown, food free of synthetics and chemicals and suchlike. That kind of food really does taste better. And if food is about satisfaction, well...I guess I just don't get the resistance to that.

A friend of mine recently introduced me to a terrific restaurant in this area, after long months of my despairing of ever finding a place that compares to the upscale, "progressive" dining option I had when I lived in big cities. It's in a town that defines "podunk backwater." It serves locally produced, organically grown, reasonably priced, fucking outstanding tasty food. And it's doing really well as a business, apparently, even in this Depression we're having in this state. So I know there's 'a market' for better food. My question is: why are so many people resistant to good food and healthy eating habits, in favor of unfood horror found at fast food restaurants or the junk food aisle? Marketing? Ignorance? Addiction to unhealthy but "good" tasting things like corn syrup and trans fats?

Also: consider this a Saturday Morning open recipe thread, if you've got any. I'm always looking for new cooking ideas, especially now that "chef" is practically my 4th job.

Natasha:

The health financing reform fight has been no exception to this trend, and I don't know if I'm even capable of conveying how angry it makes me that Obama's signaling he's willing to gut reproductive health coverage in even private insurance plans, and almost certainly to exclude it from any public option, just so he can stake a claim to being the "last" president to deal with health care.

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This great quote at Shakesville made me go look for the answer to that question, which I'd been wondering about, and at Our Bodies, Ourselves, I found this:

Our Bodies Ourselves supports the single-payer model as the most effective approach for solving the United States' health and medical care crisis.

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No, it's not about abolishing corporate personhood unfortunately. It's about using state laws and state constitutions to define fetuses as persons -- persons with full rights from the moment of conception.

Yep, it's all about stopping women from murdering their babies.

And they don't plan to stop at ridding the country of abortions, they want to outlaw emergency contraception and birth control pills too.

Martha Burk:

Dammit President Obama -- we support you. Women put you in office, and stuck with you when the crazies were beating you up with "death panels" and "socialized medicine."

We still support you, but like millions of women who were watching, we wonder why you have to always use our most intimate health issues as a bargaining chip to give away, when you're not going to get anything back. You did it at Notre Dame, and now you've done it again.

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*Obligatory Sarah Palin Disclaimer: I did not want the women to be elected VP. She was horridly unqualified(like our current Pres), and proposed truly odious policies. That stance however does not mean I will tolerate blatant sexist trashing of her.

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything.

So sayeth Levi Johnston, Sarah Palin's erstwhile future son-in-law. This above anecdote, related by Johnston in this month's Vanity Fair, may or may not be true*.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Jaycee Dugard, missing for 18 years, has been found alive. A 29-year-old woman walked into the Concord Police Department earlier this week. There's a photo of 11-year-old Dugard here, and the El Dorado County SO is planning a press conference this afternoon.

The Supreme Court ruling that a woman has a right to privacy in medical decisions remains under attack. In addition some of the opponents of women's rights (the right not to be forced to carry a pregnancy to term is a uniquely feminine issue) are also attacking new Associate Justice of the US Supreme Court Sonia Sotomayor, the Court itself, and President Obama (PDFs at Link).

Prolifealliance has a
petition online in support of the "Life at Conception Act,"

distributed by Steve King,

a Republican (what else?) representing Iowa's 5th District. Upon his first campaign for the seat, King had this to say:

"This seat will be used to move the political center of gravity in Congress to the right," King told cheering delegates, after narrowly defeating House Speaker Brent Siegrist of Council Bluffs, 272 to 253, on the third ballot. Iowa Sen. John Redwine of Sioux City and Council Bluffs businessman Jeff Ballenger were the first and second to fall in balloting.

Paul Shomshor is the Democratic nominee and welcomed King to the race.

"What the vote (Saturday) demonstrates is that it is clearly a divided party that has chosen a candidate," Shomshor said. "I think that I will represent mainstream Iowa. They may have selected a candidate from the geographic center of the district but I am from the political center."

King, however, is the favorite in the race because the 32-county district has 55,000 more Republicans than Democrats.

King vowed to go after every county and visit every one of the 286 cities in the district.

"Western Iowa is the key to statewide victories," he said. "The future of Iowa is in our hands."

Bill Salier, the Nora Springs farmer who ran against Ganske in the primary, introduced King.

"The culture war continues," Salier said. "It means every single day, every single one of us must pursue the agenda of the Republican Party."

King said he will not compromise his values.

"It's not about compromise if you want to get something done for Republicans," he said. "It's about negotiating from a position of strength."

The online version of the petition is accompanied by snail-mail copies being sent to folks in Kansas like Kos commenter forever blue.

Outside of "kill me now," it's hard to even respond to such vapidity in our media and crypto-media:

Also, has anyone noticed the difference between how a man standing up to a woman's stupid question is perceived vs. how a woman standing up to a man's stupid question is perceived?

I've seen people talking around some kind of "outburst" and had been too busy with RL to know what it was about.

She didn't like being asked what her husband's opinion was, rather than her own. That's it?

Actually, by checking out the YouTube threads, one sees that there were troubling, substantive issues with her approach.

One thread, among countless similar ones, informs us thusly...

what a fat horse, what a fat bitch a royal bitch

bitch so rude

guys guys she was just on that time of the month

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Via Bridget Crawford at Feminist Law Professors:

Feminist Law Prof Darren Rosenblum has posted to SSRN his article, “Feminizing Capital: A Corporate Imperative.” Here’s the abstract:

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Please, just read this excellent, comprehensive post on how our society fails in reacting to misogynistic hate crimes and the sad reality that is "TFL." Seriously, the whole thing should be read.

Maureen Tkacik in Slate, analyzes the reactions to Sheila Bair by the Finance Boyz and finds a lot of familiar misogynist tropes.

Aren't you proud to be a Democrat?

that's the only "good" part of "her" anyway...

(via)

Melissa McEwan asks a really good question about the cesspool that is the Post:

I'd love to hear the Washington Post explain how they feel confident their reporters are giving balanced coverage to female public figures when they're willing to unabashedly use sexist slurs in public.

according to the New York Times.

The argument about the difference in quality of care provided by nurses and doctors is age-old. You'll find advocates claiming nurse practitioners -- more particularly, Doctors of Nursing Practice and Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners, who serve as primary healthcare providers -- lack the training and experience to match doctors' competencies. I'll tell you straightway I think that's erroneous. I think it's based on a bigotry driven by fear of competition, greed, and prejudice against women and against "menial" work, as opposed to "proper" work, that goes back to probably the days of Socrates and Aeschylus, if not further.

Famous nurses like Florence Nightingale and Linda Richards encountered claims that their knowledge and methods were inferior to those of doctors, although such views were not universal;