The Vatican thinks that nuns are wasting their time on human rights and social work -- you know, typical helpful nun stuff.

Instead, the Catholic Church wants America's nuns to spend more time doing things that don't typically help people, like telling them not to have premarital sex, according to USA Today.

That group of nuns -- the Leadership Conference of Women Religious -- has shot back at the Vatican, and is planning to protest in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan on Tuesday. They want Cardinal Timothy Dolan to ask the Vatican to take back this criticism.

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We don't know how we missed this when Komengate went down but apparently, pink "for the cure" recycling trucks currently circulate New York City. (This pic was snapped today, on Hudson Street, by the Voice's Robert Sietsema).

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Wow.

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Yup, this sure is a 3-year-old breastfeeding on the cover of Time Magazine.

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Hollaback!, the Boerum Hill-based anti-street harassment campaign, will get $20,000 from New York for research and app development.

Right now, Hollaback! already offers iPhone and Android apps where women and men can upload pics of street creeps along with harassment stories. The basic idea is both for people to recognize these low lifes -- and prep themselves accordingly -- and to gather info for mapping initiatives in the Big Apple and 52 other cities worldwide, according to the Daily News.

What the city's cash would do is help developers take the program to the next level -- they want to come up with a way for users to report harassment to authorities.

This is all great stuff -- catcalls are unconscionable, and have no place in any society -- but there are a couple of big concerns that no chunk of change can address.

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Bicycling is fun, but going numb in your ladyparts is not fun. Like, at all.

As has been recently reported, spending time in certain cycling positions doesn't just cause erectile dysfunction in men: It might mess up ladies' sex lives, too.

Anyway, here's what's up: if you have ever been on a bike or participated in a spin class, you have probably noticed that your weight rests on the nose of the seat which, as the New York Times explains, " can compress nerves and blood vessels in the genital area" -- leading to numbness and, er, uncomfortable tingling.

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Uproar over Barack Obama's Health and Human Services mandate, which basically requires that insurers provide contraception, has hardly come to an end, and a major pro-religion advocacy group has taken the battle against the birth control clause to court.

This law firm, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, is also hosting a rally today at the Federal Hall National Memorial, located at 26 Wall Street.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization has organized before upcoming arguments over Obamacare in the U.S. Supreme Court.

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Though slutgate seems to have come to somewhat of a conclusion -- Rush Limbaugh probably won't call a young woman a "slut" again until he calls a young woman a "slut" again -- it's helpful to remember what laid the groundwork for this most recent culture war battle: Eisenstadt v. Baird a little-discussed 1972 court ruling that OKd birth control for singles. (Hell yeah!)

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Eisenstadt V. Baird on this very day 40 years ago. The case stems from the arrest of Bill Baird, who got a felony charge in Massachusetts for giving contraceptive foam to an un-married woman.

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Writing on the Rush Limbaugh/Sandra Fluke controversy in his column, Frank Bruni makes the point that there are a whole lot more words in the English language for sexually "transgressive" females than there are males -- who also typically wind up being lauded for their promiscuous proclivities.

"What's a male slut?" he muses. "A role model, in some cases. In others, a presidential candidate."

Bruni, articulating the injustices of this double-standard, then details some of the backlash Limbaugh faces, including calls from some prominent feminists that the FCC remove him from the airwaves.

Of course, asking the FCC to step into the fray is nothing short of open advocacy of censorship, and it's disheartening and unconscionable to see this promoted by respected feminists.

(This point was made yesterday in the Atlantic, which also voiced concern over Limbaugh's possible prosecution.)

But it's worth emphasizing that censorship isn't just wrong -- it stands to hurt the feminist cause more than help it.

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When Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a "slut" and a "prostitute" on his radio show Feb. 29, it sure seemed like the end of an era might be upon us.

Public outcry prompted sponsors to pull support from the show, leaving many to wonder whether the conservative stalwart would have much longer to lash out against liberals and ladies.

To be fair, Rush did damage control issue an apology, but many saw the mea culpa as meaningless -- worthy of all-out mocking.

But as bad as Rush's gaffe might be -- and to be clear, it is bad -- you have to wonder: could this bolster Limbaugh's languishing career?

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