The slope, she is slippery:
New York has become the first state to allow taxpayer-funded researchers to pay women for giving their eggs for embryonic stem cell research, a move welcomed by many scientists but condemned by critics who fear it will lead to the exploitation of vulnerable women.
Common sense breaks out at the Supreme Court:
Arizona school officials violated the constitutional rights of a 13-year-old girl when they strip-searched her on the suspicion she might be hiding ibuprofen in her underwear, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday. The decision put school districts on notice that such searches are "categorically distinct" from other efforts to combat illegal drugs.
While everyone's been talking about health care and arguing over what President Obama should or shouldn't say about Iran, cap & trade is sneaking up on us. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants it introduced tomorrow and passed before the Fourth of July recess. This is a bill that has grown from 900 pages to nearly 1,200 just in the last few days, and they're still making changes. It's doubtful many legislators will have even read the thing before they vote on it.
When I got back from overseas, I started dating a nurse here in Fort Wayne. Well, "dating" may be a bit strong, since I still had a year and a half to go in the Army and could see her only when I came home on leave. Anyway, it didn't work out, and I remember being hurt and angry and writing a blistering letter, telling her what a wonderful guy she was stupid enough to take a pass on, and slipped it under her door.
Transpo, the South Bend public bus line, didn't have a policy about what ads it wouldn't take, except that it would deny space for ads deemed "controversial," which was thought to be constitutionally challengeable on grounds of vagueness. So it felt compelled to let atheists put up a bunch of ads, which upset everybody. So now it has a new advertising policy:
Reportedly, they will deny ad space for the promotion of "cigarettes, churches, politicians, guns or porn."
State legislators have gotten themselves into a tight corner. They have only until June 30 to pass a budget during the special session or risk seeing much of state government shut down. The House and Senate have each passed a version of the bill, so they now have five days to reconcile the two. You'd think they'd be feverishly meeting at all hours of the night and day to make sure they don't blow the deadline. But House Democrats apprarently have more important things on their minds:
City Council President Tom Smith: Let's try not to use our electronic devices during council sessions; people find it distracting and disrespectful.
Council member Tim Pape: Shut up and quite bothering me while I'm reading my text messages.
That's what he was doing, too. He even seemed amused that, during Smith's request, he got a text from a constituent expressing disapproval of such an unreasonable request:
Whoops! Looks like the 2012 presidential field just got thinned by one:
South Carolina's wandering governor, Mark Sanford, said today he had an affair with an Argentine woman and that was why he disappeared without telling anyone he went to South America."The bottom line is this: I've been unfaithful to my wife," he said. "I've developed a relationship with a dear dear friend from Argentina."
It's nice to learn that public officials in northwest Indiana still take their civic responsibilities seriously:
Former Mayor Robert A. Pastrick owes East Chicago damages totaling somewhere between $3 and $108,998,876.30, say attorneys in the landmark civil racketeering case against the legendary Northwest Indiana political boss.
People writing about the newly released Nixon tapes seem to be focusing either on his creepy abortion views (they foster permissiveness and break up the family but are sometimes necessary, "like when you have a black and a white or a rape") or else Watergate and all the intrigue surrounding the Saturday Night Massacre. But this is what I found really disturbing:
