Florida girl has abortion blocked

A pregnant 13-year-old girl in Florida has been told she cannot have an abortion because she lacks the maturity to make such a decision.

A state court granted an injunction which prevents the girl from terminating her pregnancy.

She is three months pregnant and had planned to have an abortion on Tuesday of this week.

The American Civil Liberties Union says it will launch an urgent appeal against the ruling.

(…)The American Civil Liberties Union ’s executive director in Florida, Howard Simon, said forcing a 13-year-old to carry on an unwanted pregnancy to term, against her wishes, is not only illegal and unconstitutional, it is cruel. BBC

The Guide

Just saw the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy movie. I went with a friend, towel in hand, at 4:20.

It’s a good movie. But those who haven’t read the books or at least listened to the radio show (which I still think is the funniest incarnation, yet) may be lost. There were quite a number of scenes where the two of us where the only ones laughing, because only we “got” the insider jokes.

As far as I am concerned seeing a sperm whale get philosophical while falling out of a planet’s orbit is worth full admission any time.

The saddest thing about the movie is that Douglas never got a chance to see it. Sniff. If you’ll excuse me now, I have some tea to make.

Toll roads not the answer to Florida’s traffic woes

There is hardly a Floridian who has never complained about traffic in the state. The cry for drastic measures to alleviate traffic jams, thereby shortening long commutes, has been heard for years. But the push toward toll roads, a trend that can be found in virtually every traffic-intensive area around the country, is not the right way to go about solving the problem.

A recent article in The New York Times shined a spotlight on such toll roads, which often function as express routes on or near already-existing roadways. The Times described the situation on Interstate 91, where fast lanes nicknamed “the 91 Express” can be found next to “normal” lanes that remain free of charge.

Locals quickly nicknamed the lanes “Lexus lanes, first class on asphalt,” as it costs up to $11 per round trip to change a two-hour commute to work into a 30-minute zip, the Times wrote.

The appeal is obvious: Those who can pay will zoom past the heavy traffic, saving the hassle of standing in traffic for hours.

But the downside of this approach is that those who cannot afford to pay the fees on a regular basis are degraded to second-class citizens.
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Advertising alone will not make obesity go away

Americans are becoming more and more obese. To find the proof, just visit your local mall. While the outfits are becoming tighter by the season, the customers have long been super-sized. Many are changing their diets in an attempt to shed some pounds.

But U.S. food and restaurant industries are now preemptively striking back. Afraid of losing revenues, an advertising campaign was launched this week that attempts to convince American consumers obesity is ?over-hyped.? So no need to put down that cheeseburger.

According to Reuters, the ad campaign is costing around $600,000 and features full-page ads in The New York Times, Washington Post, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, USA Today and the Chicago Tribune. Who is funding the campaign, though, is a fact that remains shrouded in mystery. All a spokesman for the campaign was prepared to tell Reuters was, ?Obesity is certainly a genuine problem. But when genuine problems become political issues they tend to become exaggerated, as this has.? All questions concerning who is supplying the funds remained unanswered.
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Chalabi to be Iraqi Oil Minister, deputy PM

News came yesterday Iraq had finally managed to form an official government. The process had been deadlocked since the election in late January. This is buried in a NY Times story today:

The acting oil minister will be Ahmad Chalabi, a Shiite once close to the Pentagon. He will also be one of four deputy prime ministers. NY Times

Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn’t it?

DeLay smoking cubans

This is what I am talking about: A photo showing Tom DeLay smoking a cuban cigar after he recently stated the embargo against Cuba should not be lifted.

“Every dime that finds its way into Cuba first finds its way into Fidel Castro’s blood-thirsty hands (…). American consumers will get their fine cigars and their cheap sugar, but at the cost of our national honor.” (Photo and quote: Time magazine)

Asked about the Majority Leader’s consumption of a Cuban cigar, his spokesman Dan Allen replied there has been “no change in our Cuban policy.”

You just can’t make this stuff up.

Al Gore lambasts GOP over filibuster phase-out

Former Vice President Al Gore (Which also made him President of the U.S. Senate.) lambasts Republicans for attempting to phase out the filibuster:

Wading into the political fight that has roiled the Senate, the 2000 Democratic presidential candidate and former Tennessee senator warned that altering rules that have served the nation for 230 years would result in a breakdown in the separation of powers.

“What makes it so dangerous for our country is their willingness to do serious damage to our American democracy in order to satisfy their lust for one-party domination of all three branches of government,” Gore said of the GOP in a speech. “They seek nothing less than absolute power.” AP

He’s right. The problem is of course that Republicans don’t seem to care about such long-term effects lately. As long as short-term goals can be achieved they are willing to take their chances.

This will come back to bite them. As the Washington Post poll (link) and changing opinion about President Bush’s honesty on Iraq (link) I posted the other day indicate, the GOP is the party that is out of step with the mainstream, at least with their latest decisions of phasing out the filibuster, privatization of Social Security and the laws drawn up to gain political capital from the Schiavo case. It all backfired, ticking up exactly those voters the GOP intended to charm.

Keep it up. Right now the only party that seems to be able to wrangle the power away from the GOP is the GOP itself. And the last few months they have been pretty good at it.

Wait till the Bolton confirmation turns really nasty and the DeLay ethics hearings start. Some of the mud will just have to stick.

Gender gap in USF?s wages inexcusable

Wage-related sexism is apparently still prevalent at USF. A recently released study conducted by the American Association of University Professors and detailed in The Oracle on Tuesday found quite substantial salary gaps based on gender.

That a situation like this still exists is saddening, but that such a practice is still apparently in use at an institution of higher learning is downright unacceptable.
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Gallup: 50% of Americans Now Say Bush Deliberately Misled Them on WMDs

Half of all Americans, exactly 50%, now say the Bush administration deliberately misled Americans about whether Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, the Gallup Organization reported this morning.

“This is the highest percentage that Gallup has found on this measure since the question was first asked in late May 2003,” the pollsters observed. “At that time, 31% said the administration deliberately misled Americans. This sentiment has gradually increased over time, to 39% in July 2003, 43% in January/February 2004, and 47% in October 2004.” Publisher & Editor

WaPo poll: two thirds of americans oppose change of fillibuster

Pretty interesting poll conducted by the Washington Post here.

Most notably roughly 2/3 oppose the change of the filibuster rule. But opposition for a privatization of Social Security also seems on the rise.

Filibusters needed to make voice of minority heard

The Republican majority in Congress is contemplating getting rid of filibusters to ensure a smoother confirmation process for judicial nominees and other individuals who need confirmation by the Senate. But such an action should be weighed very carefully; it is, after all, possible that those who now scream to get rid of filibusters may have to rely on them in the future, as Republicans may again find themselves in the minority some day.

Critics claim that the process is nothing more than a humongous waste of time, as the tactic is usually employed by the party holding a minority. This, they claim, impinges the majority from doing the job they were elected to perform.

But what is easily forgotten, especially in a time when Republicans hold comfortable majorities in both houses of Congress as well as the presidency, is that the minority was also democratically elected and deserves a means for representation.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is leading the charge of making nominees exempt to the filibuster rule. Sunday, Frist lobbied a group of conservatives to support ending the practice, which he claims is aimed against people of faith.

Once again, the Republican majority claims that only their party represents religious people. This claim cannot be made, as no party has a monopoly on faith, a term that often defies definition.
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Last Syrian troops left Lebanon

The last remaining Syrian troops have left Lebanon. (link)

Bush, Saudi connection

No comment:

(link)

Arrest of kindergartner leaves questions open

By now most Floridians have heard about the five-year-old who was handcuffed and arrested by St. Petersburg police officers when she refused a math exercise and threw a tantrum. The incident occurred on March 14, but a video showing the arrest was made public last week. The most worrisome fact involving the incident remains how matter-of-factly the police officers went about handcuffing a minor, seemingly oblivious to the fact that there could have been alternatives.
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Passing the (healthcare) Buck

Krugman nails the problems most Americans have with their healthcare system (providing they even have one):

The United States spends far more on health care than other advanced countries. Yet we don’t appear to receive more medical services. And we have lower life-expectancy and higher infant-mortality rates than countries that spend less than half as much per person. How do we do it?

An important part of the answer is that much of our health care spending is devoted to passing the buck: trying to get someone else to pay the bills. NY Times

Florida?s growth must be addressed

According to a new census report, Florida?s population is increasing at an extraordinary rate. By 2030 Florida is likely to overtake New York as the third most populated, the report states. With the increasing number of citizens come many problems such as water shortage and traffic gridlock. If such problems are not addressed now, they are likely to prove impossible to tackle in the future.

The report, issued by the Census Bureau, estimates 11 million new residents will move to or be born in Florida over the next 25 years. This would increase the state?s population to nearly 20 million by 2010.

Another prediction made in the report suggests the general makeup of the population will change as well. The percentage of individuals aged 65 and older will grow to about 40 percent, increasing from 17.6 percent in 2000. Florida will be one of only 10 states in which the number of retirees outnumbers the number of school children.

Florida?s growth rate of 79.5 percent is nearly three times higher than the rest of the nation, but it has yet to appear on the Legislature?s priority list.

Bush keeps insisting on Bolton

You have got to be kidding me. He still wants him?

“John (Bolton)’s distinguished career and service to our nation demonstrates that he is the right man at the right time for this important assignment. I urge the Senate to put aside politics and confirm John Bolton to the United Nations. ” President George W. Bush (link)

U.N. nomination counterproductive

Relations between the United States and the United Nations are strained at best. Meanwhile President George W. Bush?s approval ratings have slipped to an all-time low a second-term president has ever had. Yet the Bush administration is squandering the little good will it garnered coming out of the general election by nominating a man as ambassador to the U.N. whose attitude toward the organization could not be worse.

John Bolton has served as assistant Secretary of State under President George H. W. Bush. His close ties with the Bush family and the neoconservative movement are no secret. It is therefore understandable that the Bush administration wouldn?t mind having him as ?their man at the U.N.?

But Bolton has made statements that make him a bad choice for any diplomatic post ? let alone one as important as being an ambassador to the U.N.

Bolton has said there was ?no such thing? as the U.N. while denoting the United States as the ?only real power.? He further ridiculed the U.N. by stating if the 38-level building that houses the U.N. in New York ?lost 10 stories today, it woul not make a bit of difference.?
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New Pope wrote Vatican’s stance on homosexuality

Apparently the newly minted pope was the one who wrote the Vatican’s official stance on homosexuality. It includes such statements:

Therefore special concern and pastoral attention should be directed toward those who have this condition, lest they be led to believe that the living out of this orientation in homosexual activity is a morally acceptable option. It is not.

The entire text can be found here.

Rice to press Putin on democracy

En route to Moscow, (U.S. Secretary of State (I still can’t say that with a straight face) Condoleezza Rice) expressed concern at the progress of democracy and media curbs in Russia.

“The trends have not been positive on the democracy side,” she told correspondents.

She said the Kremlin’s consolidation of power was “clearly very worrying”. BBC

Earth to Bush administration: The White House, House of Representatives, Senate and most of the Judiciary is in Republican hands. Meanwhile the media is being played by Bush.

Maybe Rice could give the same speech again once she gets back?

New pope greeted with cautious optimism

?Habemus papam? ? We have a new pope.

Those were the words marking the successful election of a new pope that were greeted with cheers in Rome, Italy, on Tuesday. But the announcement that has the potential to unite 1.1 billion Christians worldwide was greeted with cautious optimism by the rest of the world.

German Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who will from now on be referred to as Pope Benedict XVI, had close ties with Pope John Paul II who passed away earlier this month. Benedict?s traditional, ?conservative? views largely reflect those of John Paul.
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Dean strikes back

Howard Dean to the St. Petersburg Times:

“It’s a character issue and a values issue. The Republicans are willing to reach into our personal lives at any moment,” Dean told the St. Petersburg Times, dismissing the notion that the controversy would fade with time.

“There is a deep scar on the American psyche,” he said. “This is a great tragedy for the American people and I think the behavior of the governor (Jeb Bush) and the president and the senator (Mel Martinez) is something that will long be remembered.” SP Times:

Way to go Howard. What makes this quote even more succinct is that he said it in Collier County, FL, a county that is overwhelmingly Republican (The Times says more than 3 out of 4 votes go to the right). That’s where such actions can do the most good.

Optimistic outlook offered by Star Trek will be missed

Science fiction has long been associated with a bold look at what the future may bring. It involves stories that focus as much on exploring human nature as on technology. The best stories, be they in the form of the written word, on television, at the movies or even on radio, have always evoked a sense of hope that humanity as a whole will overcome even those problems that may now seem overwhelming.

But last week an era in entertainment that had attempted to do just that came to a close: For the first time in over 18 years, no Star Trek project is being produced at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, CA. Since early production began on what would become the first big-screen adventure in 1978, stages 8 and 9 of the Paramount lot are now empty for the first time.

This largely unbroken production run saw the creation of 10 movies and four television shows that totaled over 700 episodes. But with the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise and no replacement on the drawing board, for the first time since 1987 there will be no new episodes of the popular show.

It’s true that entertainment, just like most things in our society, is based on what has money-making potential. But to a large extent good science fiction has had more in common with Greek morality plays or Shakespearean theater than average TV programs. Long-running storylines were often parables of what was happening in “real life” at the time the shows were produced.

In the early days of the classic Star Trek television show featuring William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy as Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock, the psychedelic-colored sets and props were largely stand-ins that allowed the discussion of social problems of the time that otherwise would never have made it past the network’s censors.
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New student body representatives have chance for change

Maxon Victor and Sameer Ahmed will be taking their posts as student body president and vice president today. It will be hard for the newcomers to be taken seriously by USF?s administration. The student body president has a seat on the Board of Trustees and will vote on all matters the Board does. But in the past it has become obvious that USF?s administration does not mind going against the recommendations of the only direct representative from the student body who sits on the Board. This is troubling, and the newly-minted president and vice president will have a hard time taking a stance against such behavior.
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