Poor Mojo's Newswire

Men have stronger sexual desires than do women…Women are the more monogamous gender…Homosexuality is an unnatural sexual behavior. Sexual beliefs, like these, are so widespread that we have collectively come to view them as being embedded in our biology. Cross-cultural data collected from pre-industrial societies, however, tells a different story. That data suggests that culture – including religion – has played an important role in ingraining these “truths” about human sexuality into our collective psyche. . . . Thanks to the exhaustive efforts of anthropologists like George Murdock, Douglas White, and dozens of others who contributed to the Standard Cross-Cultural Survey, I can tell you quite emphatically that there is no uniformity of human beliefs about sexual behaviors across cultures and from an early point in time. In fact, cross-cultural evidence collected on 1167 pre-European contact societies suggests that much of what we believe to be true about human sexuality is socially constructed rather than biologically pre-determined.* Let’s start with the issue raised by the commenter – how widespread across societies was the belief in pre-marital virginity? . . .

Among the evidence in the Trayvon Martin case released by the Florida state prosecutor yesterday was a 15-minute interview with a former work colleague of George Zimmerman. The man, who is not identified by name, says that Zimmerman relentlessly bullied him at work. Zimmerman, according to the witness, targeted him because he was Middle Eastern. He repeatedly called the man a “fucking moron” and mocked him using the voice of “Achmed the terrorist.” Zimmerman’s stories about the man would involve “bombing,” “I’ll kill your family” and other “jokes” about “Middle Eastern stuff.” According to the man, this went on “for days and days.”

The U.S. Commerce Department today announced that it was imposing high tariffs - more than 31 percent - on solar panels imported from China, reports the New York Times: The anti-dumping decision is one of the largest in American history, covering one of the largest and fastest-growing categories of imports from China, the world’s largest exporter. The department said the United States bought $3.1 billion worth of Chinese solar cells last year, giving China more than half the American market for the devices.

The Sunlight Foundation published an expose revealing, among other things, that Facebook’s IPO exploits a tax loophole to avoid paying taxes for years: an estimated $3 billion tax break. That’s right: the company estimated today to be worth $104 billion and the largest IPO in history is all set to get out of paying taxes. It’s a perfectly legal tax move that feels… somehow criminal. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) feels the same way. For months, Senator Levin has been campaigning the Senate against the deplorably enormous tax break Facebook is set to receive with its IPO. According to Senator Levin, Facebook will put a low stock value on the books (Facebook’s filings state 6 cents). It will file losses later for their actual worth (just announced at $38/share). Facebook says it will, as allowed by law, later claim deductions on the difference. Then, further claim a refund on this “loss” two years back for taxes it already paid. Facebook has said they will carry this so-called “loss” 20 years ahead.