Background: I oppose the War on Drugs, and am particularly appalled that we've locked up--warehoused, really--God knows how many minority men for nonviolent drug crimes. And yes, I do absolutely believe that if it were young white men (or women) being locked up for these crimes, the laws would've been changed a long time...
Phil, a longtime reader, sees pro-female sexism in the controversy over Bill Clinton's recent role in Hillary's campaign. He writes: "Hillary has been using her husband as an attack dog against Obama, but escapes criticism because of her gender. While the former President is widely condemned, Hillary is even portrayed sympathetically for 'putting up with...
Thousands of farmers marched through the streets of the Mexico City to express their opposition to the agricultural section of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Witnesses have reported that long rows of tractors moving at slow speed were observed in several of the access roads to Mexico City. Authorities have reported that...
Each year, for the past 118 years, thousands of people have traveled to the Pennsylvania town of Punxsutawney in the United States, about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, on February 2nd to see if the groundhog named Phil predicted more winter weather or an early spring. This year, Phil did see his shadow when...
NASA has held a memorial ceremony to mark the fifth anniversary of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster. All seven astronauts were killed when their spacecraft broke up on re-entry over Texas on February 1, 2003, 16 minutes prior to scheduled landing time at Florida Columbia had been damaged by a chunk of loose foam...
With less than 72 hours to go until the Super Tuesday primary election event, Republican and Democratic candidates are campaigning all across the United States this weekend in hopes of gaining the votes they need to put them over the top. Democratic Senator Hilary Clinton is spending Saturday in the delegate-rich state of California,...
On Friday, the Memphis Grizzlies of the National Basketball Association agreed to send forward-center Pau Gasol and their 2010 second-round draft pick to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for center Kwame Brown, rookie point guard Javaris Crittenton, and two first-round draft picks in 2008 and 2010. Also sent to Memphis were Pau’s brother...
On February 4, NASA will digitally transmit the Beatles song Across the Universe in the direction of the star Polaris, commonly known as the North Star. This will mark the first time music has been sent into deep space. The song will be transmitted from the DSS-63 radio antenna at the Madrid Deep Space...
French radio station RTL announced today that President Nicolas Sarkozy has married his Italian girlfriend Carla Bruni at the Élysée Palace. They quote “several witnesses” of the alleged ceremony, which the local mayor of the 8th arrondissement of Paris, François Lebel, presided. The President’s office and his spokesman have refused to comment. According to...
On Friday, twin attacks in Iraq killed at least 72 people and wounded another 149. Separated by twenty minutes, the bombings targeted two marketplaces in Baghdad shortly before the call to Friday prayers. These attacks were unlike suicide bombings in that the bombs were dynamite and ball bearings strapped to two women. These human...
Service to millions of Internet users in the Middle East and Asia has been disrupted, following damage to undersea cables. The cables, SEA-ME-WE 4 and FLAG, which provide communications services for various countries – including India, Pakistan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia – are believed to have been damaged by a ship attempting to moor...
Author’s Note: This was originally published in The Hatchet: The Journal of Lizzie Borden Studies. The Borden case continues to intrigue over a century after the fact because there is so much that seems to point unmistakably to Lizzie Borden’s guilt – and important facts that appear to make that guilt utterly impossible. Behavior...
In my co-authored column Are American Husbands Slackers? (Tallahassee Democrat, 3/22/06), I criticized the "Lazy Husband" myth. My central argument is "When both work outside the home and inside the home are properly considered, it is clear that men do at least as much as women."  Amanda, a reader, takes exception to my column and...
Dear Family and Friends, What is happening in Kenya is making us very nervous here in Zimbabwe. A disputed election result; over 800 people killed; 250 thousand displaced and a stable and prosperous country spiralling into chaos in just a single month. As the violence and killing has gone on day after day, it...
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