Archive for February, 2008

Wikileaks has claimed in a press release that the Swiss bank, Bank Julius Baer & Trust, has abused the system by involving an administrator of the Wikileaks group on Facebook in the court case which has recently lead to a court injunction causing wikileaks.org DNS entry to be removed. (It can still be accessed... »

Background: The historic, one-of-a-kind conference "From Ideology to Inclusion: Evidence-Based Policy and Intervention in Domestic Violence" was held in Sacramento, California February 15-16 and was a major success. The conference was sponsored by the California Alliance for Families and Children and featured leading domestic violence authorities from around the world. Many of these researchers... »

Background: I discussed the recent controversy over the feminist "1 in 4 college women are raped" myth, see my recent blog post 'It’s a lonely job, working the phones at a college rape crisis center...you wait for the casualties to show up but no one calls'. I noted that "the ladies at www.Feministing.com have responded with... »

I’ve decided to run a mock campaign for president again as a forum to talk about public policy. Every four years I look for a candidate who understands economics, only to find politicians instead. My political bias, like many economists, leans toward freedom. The unintended consequences of much of our legislation result in great... »

Background: The Boston Globe recently discussed Fathers & Families' shared parenting bill at great length in their editorial A fair role for fathers. While the Globe did not endorse the bill, the editorial essentially agrees with the main arguments behind shared parenting. Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Executive Director of Fathers & Families, responded to... »

FEBRUARY 29 is Leap Day. In 45 B.C., Julius Caesar replaced the calendars used throughout the Roman Empire based on the moon’s cycles with a calendar based on the sun, having 365 days and a “leap” day every 4th year. It was modified by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to omit leap days in... »

Iraqi officials say the government has approved the death sentence for “Chemical Ali,” a cousin of Saddam Hussein, who is widely known for his role in poison gas attacks on Kurds in Iraq. It is expected that the execution will be carried within a month. Iraqi officials said Friday the presidency council approved the execution... »

Last weekend, “Saturday Night Live” did a skit about a CNN debate between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Problem was, the only African-American male cast member they had available couldn’t reasonably portray Obama because he has a very different body type and it just wouldn’t have worked. So, do you know what they did?... »

FEBRUARY 29 is Leap Day. In 45 B.C., Julius Caesar replaced the calendars used throughout the Roman Empire based on the moon’s cycles with a calendar based on the sun, having 365 days and a “leap” day every 4th year. It was modified by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 to omit leap days in... »

In the music video "Do It Well," singer Jennifer Lopez packs all of the following into a 3 minute, 17 second video: She pushes a man down a flight of stairs She kicks a man in the head She wraps a man's arm behind his back and shoves him She hits a man in the head (twice) She kicks a man She... »

by Phyllis Schlafly Why are Republicans in Congress trying to help Barack Obama (D-IL)? Republicans allowed a bill that carries his name to pass the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by voice vote last week (without any hearings), which means there was no roll-call vote so we can hold any Member accountable. It passed the House... »

Crude oil prices in New York rose to a new record of $102.59 on Thursday, although the figure increased even more during after hours trading. In less than a month, prices have risen $10, leading the figures to above the record highs set during the 1980s (taking inflation into account). Information provided by the... »

Much is being made of Barack Obama’s oratory skills. True, he is quite good when it comes to captivating a crowd of sycophants and this includes the lemmings in the mainstream media. But if words matter, as Obama (and surreptitiously Duval Patrick) claims they do, then we must acknowledge that in this case words... »

After the disastrous loss of majority status that befell the Republicans in Congress with the results of the 2006 midterm elections, conservative members of the GOP — and even a few not so conservative — began floating a new sound bite mantra. We have “lost our brand” became the meme as House members fanned... »

US military forces, and ground forces in particular, have operated at a high pace since the attacks of September 11, 2001, including the support of ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Between 2001 and July 2007, approximately 931,000 US Army and Marine Corps service members deployed for overseas military operations, including about 312,000 National... »

By Alan Caruba I heard from Friends of the Earth, a huge environmental organization, who one would think would favor the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007 being advanced by Senate Democrats. It would impose a cap-and-trade program to force reductions of so-called greenhouse gas emissions. FOE, however, was wailing about the way “it lavishes... »

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) have sided with Wikileaks.org and will defend them against a lawsuit with took the site off line in the United States. Wikileaks is a website dedicated to hosting leaked documents that are “anonymous, untraceable, uncensorable.” On February 18, 2008, a permanent court injunction... »

Background: The Boston Globe recently discussed Fathers & Families' shared parenting bill at great length in their editorial A fair role for fathers. While the Globe did not endorse the bill, the editorial essentially agrees with the main arguments behind shared parenting. Ned Holstein, MD, MS, Executive Director of Fathers & Families, responded to... »

The pilot of the Boeing 737 that crashed on March 7 upon landing at Yogyakarta Airport after a domestic Indonesian flight has been forced by his airline to resign. The crash of Garuda Indonesia Flight 200 killed twenty-one people, most being Indonesian nationals and five being Australians following a visit by then Australian Foreign... »

"I dressed up in a sexy outfit...I became subject to leers, stares...tell me that there aren't men out there, especially in locations frequented by college students, who act like predators." I avoid judging bloggers by their commenters because I think it can be very unfair and misleading. Below is a comment from Kimmy, a... »