1. In a long-awaited ruling, the New Jersey Supreme Court announced by unanimous vote in Lewis v. Harris, 2006 WL 3019750 (Oct. 25,2006), that the failure of the state to provide same-sex couples with the same rights that opposite-sex couples can obtain under state law by marrying violates the equal protection requirements of the state…
Monthly Archives: February 2007
SEMANTICS OF WAR 101
Once upon a time, the USA had a War Department. Bad name! So in about 1950, some linguistics officer said we had better change the name. It became the Defense Department. But a war by any other name is still a war. In none of these recent engagements was any battle fought on American soil.…
TIDBITS
Insurance Company Aflac has decided to give shareholders an “advisory vote” on executive pay. That’s a maggot-covered bone thrown to a dog but no one else is going even that puny distance.*****Kate Moss, reduced to going naked in order to get attention, is still a top fashion model. I rate her along with Pamela Cruz,…
DON’T MESS WITH TRENT LOTT
Trent Lott is not a person you push around without suffering consequences. The Senator’s home was flushed away by Hurricane Katrina but State Farm didn’t want to ante up with $350,000. It claimed the senator was covered for total loss by winds but not by floods. Was this company kidding? Did it really imagine that…
ONE DAY IN THE LIFE OF THE LIFELESS
What goes on in the Congress? I mean, “What really goes on?”. How about a blow-by-blow account of February 17? WARNING! The Surgeon General has asked me to write that “Attempting to read this from beginning to end is hazardous to your health.” ****************************************** Chamber Action…..Routine Proceedings, pages S2185-S2220 Measures Introduced: Seven bills and one…
MUGABE LIVES
Robert Mugabe not only lives but he reigns. When Bobby took the reins in Zimbabwe back in 1980, Zimbabwe was a promising land. It had flourishing industry including tourism. Who would go there now? 2/3 of the people are living on $1 day and inflation is a mind-boggling 1600%. I can’t even calculate what that…
SO ZARQAWI IS DEAD
After Zarqawi was knocked off by American freedom fighters in July of last year, many people joined the Optimists Club and predicted a decline in terrorism. I didn’t think so. Terrorist attacks have at least tripled since Zarqawi’s death. Here is what I wrote on July 24 (post #2456): “I have said on several occasions…
CHENEY DOESN’T READ
Tricky Dick is touring the Orient (at your expense) and, while in Australia, he denounced China’s recent anti-satellite mission test. He said, “We hope China will join us in our efforts to prevent the deployment and the proliferation of deadly technologies whether in Asia or in the Middle East”. Good idea. What about in the…
RICE DOESN’T READ
Our diplomatic guru, Condoleezza Rice, doesn’t want to negotiate with Iran until it renounces such ideas as wanting to wipe Israel off the face of the map; it must abandon nuclear technology; it must also agree to stop slipping weapons to terrorists in Iraq. In May 2003, Iran offered to address the U.S. concern over…
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA IS TERRIBLE
Military.com is not everyone’s cup of tea and it won’t shock readers of WP to find this review in it. “Letters from Iwo Jima,” director Clint Eastwood’s Japanese-language companion piece to “Flags of Our Fathers” has finally arrived out here in flyover country. Having seen “Flags” with its dark—and on occasion dishonest—depiction of the American…
THE BEST FILMS OF 2006
Now that the self-congratulatory exercise called the Academy Awards are over, we may as well take a peek at the best movies of the year. Oscar time is fun but silly. Movies can be fun without having to be silly. So here are the best of the best. 1. Pan’s Labyrinth. Average score of 98…
WEEKEND HEADLINES AROUND THE WORLD
NY Times………………..Canadian Court Limits Detention in Terror Cases. Canada’s highest court on Friday unanimously struck down a law that allows the Canadian government to detain foreign-born terrorism suspects indefinitely using secret evidence and without charges while their deportations are being reviewed. Click here for full story. Washington Post………….At Least 40 Die in Bombing At Sunni…
NO COCAINE? SNORT THIS!
What happens when America invades Columbia (as it usually does) to crack down on crack? Well, snort these facts. 1. Cultivation of the coca fields has remained pretty constant. 337,000 acres in 2000. Roughly 330,000 acres in 2005. 2. Money paid to Dynacorp to eradicate coca fields in 2005 – $174 million. [The government could…
AMERICA’S NEXT GENERATION
PEW RESEARCH CENTER A strong majority (75%) of Gen Next Americans (18-25 year olds) say today’s youth are more likely to have casual sex than were young people 20 years ago. Only 7% of Nexters say their generation has less casual sex and 17% say they have about the same amount. While weighing in on…
TIDBITS
The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s lust for revenge never ceases to amaze me. It writes: “The Simon Wiesenthal Center commends the Mannheim, Germany court that convicted Ernst Zundel of incitement and sentenced him to five years in prison. We applaud Germany for aggressively dealing with those who deny history’s most documented atrocity.” Zundel’s “crime” was denying…
WHO’S SORRY, NOW?
“Who’s sorry, now?” is the title of a great old song and it is never out of date. Paul Cortez is the latest person to offer apologies for what is unforgiveable. Al Jazeera……………..> “U.S. soldier sentenced to 100 years for Iraq rape, killing” “I still don’t have an answer,” Sgt. Paul E. Cortez, 24, who…
IRAN/ANALYSES OF AMERICAN POLICY
Project on Defense Alternatives is a great source for information about military policy. One of the very best. Some recent posts: 1. “We can live with a nuclear Iran”. Barry Posen, MIT Center for International Studies. Click here. 2. An Unnecessary Crisis: Setting the Record Straight about Iran’s Nuclear Program By Iran’s Permanent Mission to…
THE MADNESS NEVER STOPS
WP continues to oppose the use of animals in so-called “scientific” studies. In a word, they are USELESS. Even if they had an iota of usefulness, they are immoral. Here is the latest condemnation by someone in a position to know. February 18, 2007. By Marius Maxwell. [Reprinted in its entirely from Guardian Unlimited.] “As…
WHO ELSE MAKES BIG MONEY?
That CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, sports stars and entertainment celebrities make unjustified gobs of money is no surprise to anyone. What is news is that those heading up nonprofit trade associations are closing in. Forty-five trade associations, think tanks, professional societies, and labor unions awarded their chief executives with salaries and benefits of $1…
SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS ARE JEWS
The famous old boast: “Why, I don’t mind them at all; some of my best friends are……(fill in as required: Jews, Blacks, Gays coprophiliacs, necromaniacs). Actually, most of my best friends really are Jews. My wife was a Jew, my mother was, so, too, my father, and my two sisters. Why, now that I think…
ETHICAL CONSUMPTION
Financial Times reports a survey of 5000 people in the U.S., Germany, France, UK and Spain on what ethical considerations influence their buying. That survey is spread awfully thin but it is the best we’ve got. So what is ethical consumerism? It is attention to such things as cruelty-free beauty products, organic foods, recycling, having…
IS MINIMUM WAGE A BAD IDEA?
We have published several pieces by economists challenging the efficacy and even the morality of a minimum wage. At WP we don’t follow the reasoning but here is another abbreviated account of one more spokesperson for that view – Mario Pisani, a distinguished economist and Fellow at Financial Times. Mario says the minimum wage is…
MALE SUICIDE
Men like to kill themselves almost as much as they like killing other men. That makes the drug industry happy. Manufacturers of Prozac and Zoloft are the main beneficiaries but there are dozens of others. Actually, if depression is chemical, drugs help. If a man is depressed because his girl friend has left him, they…
IMPROVING CARE FOR DEMENTIA PATIENTS
In a five-city U.S. study, researchers enrolled 642 people who provided at least 4 hours of care daily for relatives with dementia. The caregivers were randomized to a control group (2 brief phone calls and mailed educational materials) or to an intervention that provided skills training, stress management advice, support groups, and strategies to manage…
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