Rape Culture

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

I have seen quite a bit recently that has shown me rape culture is alive and well, so I thought we could have a little refresher course in it. I know some are rolling their eyes right about now but please keep reading. 1 in 6 women will be sexually assaulted in her lifetime and 1 in 33 men. That means we all know someone who has been sexually assaulted. The perpetrator is the inappropriate guy at work, our quiet neighbour, our friend, the good guy who would never hurt someone. In a culture that makes excuses and diminishes the power of rape they all do, and for the most part they get away with it.

I’m not expecting a lot of comments on this, I just hope that some will read it and stop to think. This is the only way to fight the problem.

( TW for discussion of rape )

ETA: Since the 1 in 60 men as rapists claim was causing so much contention I have removed it from the post. It is a statistic I have seen many places before but I will admit I did not do any research into finding a study that will back that up. I apologize for that.

Olá, recessão!

[luzribeiro.livejournal.com]

Two years of recession - that's the price for Portugal for getting aid from EU and IMF. And the aiders will have to pay 78 billion euros. In the case with EU the risk of Portugal defaulting is added, as happened with Greece. And this would aggravate the debt crisis in Europe even more.

The conditions for the financial aid will require that Portugal should tighten its financial belt, which equals to 10% of its GDP for the next 3 years. This is a hard task for any country, but even more to one which practically has done no serious economic reforms ever since it entered the Euro zone in 1999. Now the EU and IMF creditors would require from Lisbon a shrinking of the inflated public sector, radical change in the labor market, freezing wages in the public sector and the pensions until 2013 and decreasing the budget deficit by 3% in the next two years. In result the shameful 'honor' of becoming the third country on life support after Greece and Ireland will bring Portugal to recession this year or the next at the latest.

And it's not just some program for fiscal cuts, it's a package which aims to bring growth back to Portugal and make its economy at least a bit more competitive. Really, the plan focuses mostly on the low competitiveness, and rightly so. Also on the low productivity and the stagnating economy, and on the spheres requiring the most urgent improvement.

It's another question if 3 years of deep structural reforms will be enough to transform the slowest economy in the Euro zone and help it generate enough growth to deal with the weight of its public debt, which is expected to reach 100% of BNP. And whether after that period Portugal would be able to survive without the financial crutch of EU and IMF by generating income at bearable interest rates on the capital markets.

And the risks don't end there. The conditions on the loan were accepted by the government in resign which will be no longer working on them. All major political parties which are expected to enter parliament after the election on June 5 have declared their support for the measures. Consensus is good, but until they have started putting the reforms to practice lots of things could change.

The greatest political threat however does not come from within Portugal, curiously it comes from Finland. On the election last month the Euro-sceptic True Finns party made a real breakthrough and became a third political power in Finland. There is still no final confirmation if Finland would support the aid loan to Lisbon.

Portugal's fate is also connected with Greece. If, or more precisely when, its public debt eventually gets restructured which is inevitable, this will increase the pressure on Portugal. The most optimistic scenario at this point is if EU finds a way to prevent a country from defaulting without the seismic shock from this fatally shaking the rest of the weak links in the Euro zone.

Funniest conspiracies

[ddstory.livejournal.com]

The Illuminati sign on the 1-dollar bank note is one of the fave topics for the "experts" in conspiracy theory. And there are innumerable examples of much crazier conspiracies that come out of the weird minds of people with wild imagination. So here's a gallery which shows some of the funnier ones.

( Some conspiracies (with pics) )