[LINK] Some Friday links

[rfmcdonald]

• Broadsides' Antonia Zerbisias reports on the mendacity of some anti-abortion researchers who apparently can't construct proper studies.


• Centauri Dreams reports on an astronomer who believes that there may be as many Earth-like planets as there are stars in the universe.


• How has political discourse been shaped by the recent mass nationalizations in Western economies? Crooked Timber considers: Might the US gain social democrats?


• Far Outliers explores the ways in which language was used, at the end of the Tokugawa, to denote change and its potential directions.


• Normblog mourns the recent death in the Buffalo plane crash of genocide scholar Alison Des Forges.


• The Pagan Prattle reports that the decision to ban the leaders of the ludicrous Westboro Baptist church from the United Kingdom has harmed positive community-building.


• Gideon Rachman shares his vision of a dystopian 2012. On the plus side, the Sarkozy-Madonna pairing does seem natural ...


• Slap Upside the Head reports that Toronto Anglicans are considering the questino of blessing same-sex unions; also, that Ethiopia's churches are calling for a ban on homosexuality.


• Towleroad provides more coverage of Atwood's decision to withdraw from the Dubai book festival and the organizer's response.


• Windows on Eurasia warns that the Russian HIV/AIDS epidemic is again growing, and takes note of the ways in which the Turkish president's visit to Tatarstan highlights Tatarstan as an international player.