*Pussy Riot* grrrlz are threat to Putin and thus Russia.

Imagine living in a country where the government leader flouts the democratic traditions and exploits the system to stay in power, with the assistance of rightwing religious groups and corporate interests.

That would be Russia, not Canada though the Harper regime is moving us closer to Putin's totalitarian ideal every day it remains in power.

Three women - workers, artists, mothers and students - and members of the punk group *Pussy Riots" were arrested five months ago. They have been kept in prison since they performed a prayer to the Virgin Mary to rid the country of Putin, in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.

The issue has divided Russian society into two camps. The first group thinks that their song represents an insult to the religious sensibilities of the majority, which ought to be a criminal offense punishable with jail time.

A significantly smaller group – concentrated among Russia's intellectual and artistic communities – argues that while the women may be guilty of bad behavior, their actions should not be considered a serious crime in any secular society. Legal experts now agree, warning of a decrease in public confidence in the Russian judiciary and government institutions.

Some 35,000 people have signed an Internet petition calling for the women's release, and last month more than 100 prominent Russian artists, musicians and public intellectuals signed an open letter to the Kremlin that declared "the criminal case against Pussy Riot compromises the Russian judicial system and undermines confidence in government institutions on the whole."

Some liberals insist that the surprisingly harsh prosecution of the women is being pushed by the Kremlin at the behest of the Orthodox Church, which has grown in political power in recent years and increasingly takes public stands on social matters such as the way Russian women dress and anti-religious artistic expressions. The church denies any direct involvement in the case.

From here; more here and here.



And. Also. We're going for the Abrahamic religious trifecta, thanks to Sarah Silverman's raunchy *indecent* proposal to one of the billionaires meddling in US politics.

Warning: it is NSFW and not for anyone who might be offended by the dubious juxtaposition of ethnocultural jamming, blatant political venality and lesbian sexual practices. Sarah uses her dog to illustrate what she is pitching, though the critter doesn't appear to have been harmed psychologically or otherwise.

Thirdly: a crackpot preacher and recent convert to Islam regurgitates the standard gynophobic fundamentalist ideology that shames women for men's behaviour.

Instead of mandatory burqas, why not issue blindfolds to men who are incapable of taking responsibility for their violence and their abusive actions towards women?

It does raise the question of why women chose to participate in their own objectification and sexualization. Recent studies such as this one observe this phenomenon can be detected beginning at the age of six. Yes, you read that correctly.

Grand merci to Le Devoir, Weywerd Sun, and Dred Tory.