A point often made but often worth making. It’s not obvious to me why NOW should have anything to say about the Gillian Gibbons case, which doesn’t involve a “women’s issue.” But then, neither did the deportation of Elvira Arellano and they had plenty to say about that. They should have something to say about the Saudi gang-rape case, as not only are those nasty wingnuts covering it in some detail but, thanks to Bush’s coziness with the Saudi royals, it’s perfectly legit on the left to hate the Kingdom. Oh well.

Tammy claims feminists’ silence signals that Gibbons and the Saudi woman “deserved” what they got. I wouldn’t go that far, but as she says, this is all infused with that curious parochial progressivism that can generate white-hot outrage over a parental notification requirement for a pregnant 13-year-old in the U.S. but only the most perfunctory statement of condemnation — if any — of a woman being cut to ribbons for the crime of being gang-raped in Saudi Arabia. Feminism may not end at the water’s edge but it sure seems tired once it finally crosses the ocean.