Today’s Links: November 14, 2011

OPINION

KATIE ROIPHE: “In Favor of Dirty Jokes and Risqué Remarks”
“Codes of sexual harassment imagine an entirely symmetrical universe, where people are never outrageous, rude, awkward, excessive or confused, where sexual interest is always absent or reciprocated, in other words a universe that does not entirely resemble our own. We don’t legislate against meanness, or power struggles, or political maneuvering, or manipulation in offices, and how could we? So should we be legislating against rogue flirtations, the floating out of invitations? Obviously there is a line, which if the allegations against Mr. Cain are true, he has crossed, but there are many behaviors loosely included under the creative, capacious rubric of sexual harassment that do not cross that line. ”

L. GORDON CROVITZ: “Technology Rewrites the Fourth Amendment”
“The Fourth Amendment is a rare part of the Constitution that explicitly requires judges to adjust standards to reflect changes in society. What was unreasonable before may be reasonable now. Most adults in the U.S. have created Facebook accounts, which disclose more information than the most avid gossip-monger could have produced in the days before social media.”

CBS NEWS: “Congress: Trading Stock on Inside Information?” (VIDEO)

NEWS

FOOD – Locally-Grown Food Now a $4.8 Billion Business, Says USDA Report
“A new U.S. Department of Agriculture report says sales of ‘local foods,’ whether sold direct to consumers at farmers markets or through intermediaries such as grocers or restaurants, amounted to $4.8 billion in 2008. That’s a number several times greater than earlier estimates, and the department predicts locally grown foods will generate $7 billion in sales this year. […] Consumers tend to assume that the produce they are buying at these markets are fresher, made with fewer chemicals and grown by smaller, less corporate farms. That may be true in some cases and not in others.”

INTERNATIONAL – Brazil Grants Residency Based on Same-Sex Marriage
“Gay couples are gaining new rights in Brazil. The government has granted a Spanish man the right to permanent residency based on his marriage to a Brazilian man. “