Headline Review

Happy Saturday!

It is officially one week until my birthday, and where am I? That's right, at work! I'm chilling out at my grown-up job & while enjoying my grilled cheese sammich (my guilty pleasure when I have to work weekends, the cafeteria makes a great grilled cheese!), I was browsing the news pages. There have been a variety of good articles on various subjects the past week or so, so I thought I'd share a few that caught my eye:

Things that worry me:
(1) South Dakota's attempted total ban on abortion -- please, take my rights, it's not like I'm using them.

(2) The Supreme Court reviewing a total ban on late-term abortion, because the ban in question does "not include an exception for cases where the health of the mother might be at risk."

(3) The proposed Missouri House resolution that states that "voluntary prayer in public schools, religious displays on public property, and the recognition of a Christian God are not a coalition of church and state." Because if it's not, I'm not sure what is.

(4)Any city government (or any government at all, for that matter), who thinks they have the right to decide what constitutes a family. It would seem that the aforementioned ordinance, in addition to affecting the folks mentioned in the story, would also prevent gay couples from raising children in the city. Hmmm. I'll have to agree with this column, the answer to one board member's statement, "I don't understand why you as a woman didn't exercise your right to marry that man" is that it's NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS. I have very vivid memories of close-minded people suggesting that my dad, brother, stepmom, stepsister & I weren't a family because we had different skin tones -- and my parents were married!

Things that I agree with:
(1) the conviction of six animal-rights supporters for "using a Web site to incite threats, harassment and vandalism against a company that tests drugs and household products on animals." I'm not saying we should just randomly test harmful chemicals on animals, but what these people did went too far -- the information they posted contained "their home phone numbers, addresses and where their children attended school." When you put people's children at risk, you're seriously crossing the line. Your First Amendment rights allow you to rant & rave & assemble peaceably, but not to put other people in danger.

(2) As silly as it sounds, and as many other things we could be using legislative power for, I think requiring coathooks in public restrooms is a great idea.

(3) The woman who got whacked by an elephant after climbing into its exhibit. 'nuff said.

(4) Japanese scientists have found a method to get gasoline from cow dung. Given the stats in the article, the yearly dung production of Japan could create over 210,000,000 gallons of gas, which is enough for my little Ranger to drive the around the world (at the equator, of course) almost 200,000 times!

(5) The kids who built a soybean powered car, that can go "from zero to 60 in four seconds and get more than 50 miles to the gallon." Expect to see them all hired by big oil for large sums of money, and subsequently locked away in cubicles where no one will hear from them ever again.

Okay, enough for now, have a great weekend, and happy reading!