Link Banana

I’m pleased to report — as I feel is necessary in light of this recent outburst — that this week’s Newsweek cover story was actually interesting. One of the many details I hadn’t known:

It’s no wonder many conservative Christians decry the practice as tampering with the miracle of life, while far-left feminists liken gestational carriers to prostitutes who degrade themselves by renting out their bodies. Some medical ethicists describe the process of arranging surrogacy as “baby brokering,” while rumors circulate that self-obsessed, shallow New Yorkers have their babies by surrogate to avoid stretch marks. Much of Europe bans the practice, and 12 states, including New York, New Jersey and Michigan, refuse to recognize surrogacy contracts. But in the past five years, four states—Texas, Illinois, Utah and Florida—have passed laws legalizing surrogacy, and Minnesota is considering doing the same. More than a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and, most notably, California, specifically legalize and regulate the practice.

Sudhir Venkatesh has some answers from Mindy and Dorothy, two sex workers, about their profession. They had some interesting things to say; this bit about legalization surprised me:

DOROTHY: I think legalization is really bad for the women because they will just get exploited. They’ll get paid a lot less and be forced to do a lot more.

I don’t condone prostitution, but I do understand survival.

Women sell their bodies for survival — I don’t care how much money they make. You don’t want to make that a permanent thing.

Slate’s Explainer tackles a question a lot of people may be asking in the wake of NY Governor Spitzer’s run-in with the law. The answer?

The case for making it against the law to buy sex begins with the premise that it’s base and exploitative and demeaning to sex workers. Legalizing prostitution expands it, the argument goes, and also helps pimps, fails to protect women, and leads to more back-alley violence, not less. This fight over legalization has been waged in the last few years over international human-trafficking laws and proposals to make prostitution legal in countries like Bulgaria, a movement that the U.S. government helped defeat.

Thankfully, Ms. Bazelton also tackles the sensible arguments for legalization.

The Economist, like most Western observers, has some strong words about the election of Dmitry Medvedev earlier today.

The polling station, and the country, have been hijacked by security men who do not even pretend to follow the law. The location of this incident, a busy shopping area, was also symbolic. Overwhelmed by the cornucopia of foreign goods, Russian consumers have so far been distracted from the Kremlin’s shenanigans.

Portfolio has an interesting piece about the state of property rights in China. Though I think Mr. Kurlantzick may be overreaching in suggesting revolution, how few rights people have is mildly jarring to American sensibilities.

Very few of the evictions in China would qualify as legal in other countries, and even in China the legality is murky. Because the state technically owns all urban land and the average Chinese citizen simply owns the right to live on the land for a time, government officials have massive leverage on homeowners and can force them to leave their property without paying much—if anything—in compensation.