The Good

Did you all see how one of the Wisconsin Republican state senators up for recall has been outed by his wife as living with his mistress? Family values! And his wife is signing the recall petition.

Here’s a great, short video of young people standing up for Planned Parenthood. You can hide your head in the sand, America, but young folks have sex, so you might as well teach them to do it safely.

The Bad

Our thoughts are all with the earthquake and tsunami victims in Japan, and I do hope the nuclear power plants are out of crisis soon. If you’re looking for an organization to donate money to, Doctors Without Borders is doing important work.

There was a lot of coverage this week in the feminist blogs about the New York Times‘ reporting on the November 2010 gang rape of an 11-year-old girl in a small Texas town. The NYT eventually issued a sort-of apology. But I’m most interested in Akiba Solomon’s two pieces on the issue, which delve into the complexities of race and community involved.

Charlie Sheen’s public breakdown may be funny, but his frequent history of domestic violence is anything but. Anna Holmes suggests that maybe Sheen’s exes aren’t “nice” enough for the general public to care about their abuse.

Michigan! Cut it out. Allowing a governor to take over entire towns at his whim is not good policy.

Wondering where we’re supposed to get the money to keep NPR, Planned Parenthood, and the like? Here’s a great graphic representation of just how many tax breaks large corporations get that could be applied to essential public programs instead, and fix the budget in one fell swoop.

The battle in Wisconsin is still going strong, and Abe Sauer at The Awl is doing a terrific job reporting on not just the immediate events, but the full backstory of the main players and what’s at stake. I recommend these highly, but be warned, you will be upset after reading them, because damn people do some shady things.

The Silly

Jane Austen Drinking Game! The video is funny, too. Do I hear “Saturday night fun times”?