Dictators lay down the law in baboon troupes
Baboon troops tend to have a dictator who makes most decisions and he tends to reward those who blindly following him and groom him.
Opinion
Violence forces Chevron to break contracts
Chevron has declared that it will not be able to honor its contracts to supply oil from Nigeria because of militia attacks in Nigeria. If violent attacks on oil facilities are the only way to achieve fairness in Nigeria, does anyone think the attacks will end?
Graffiti causes crime
Researchers have proved aspects of the “broken window” theory of crime. Graffiti causes more littering, graffiti causes theft, and litter causes more theft. The article points out that enforcing basic rules (e.g., littering) leads to other rules being followed. A corollary: unjust rules that cannot be enforced properly (e.g., drug laws) will lead to unenforced … Read more
Judge: “seven years is enough”–release prisoners
A Federal Judge ruled that the US government must release five Gitmo prisoners it has held for seven years without charges because the government’s claim for holding the Algerians is insufficient.
Cops blame environmental carnage on coke heads
A group of cops in Britain are advancing the absurd notion that using drugs destroys the rain forest, and they want you to stop snorting cocaine because they suddenly care about the environment. The Bobbies failed to mention that the drug war makes it impossible to regulate the production of cocaine: if the problem is … Read more
Bush refuses to tell us what we already know
The Bush administration refuses to release a copy of the military agreement signed with Iraq even though Iraq has published a copy of the agreement. When President Bush vowed to send democracy to Iraq, I assumed he intended to keep it in the US also. Mission Accomplished: no democracy in the US.
104 retired military brass against ‘don’t ask-don’t tell’
104 retired US military leaders point out the obvious: barring gays from serving in the military is a stupid policy that turns 1 million Americans into second class citizens and hurts our national defense by rejecting qualified candidates.
Nebraska healthcare shamed, blames parents instead
Nebraska’s safe haven law was working, but law makers are going to change it because it exposes the inadequacies of America’s health care system, especially mental health services. “A majority of the kids abandoned had a history of mental illness — 90% of the parents or guardians had sought state services for them before.”
Court overturns ‘virgin’ marriage annulment
A real victory for women everywhere: a French appeals court overturned a marriage annulment that was based on a woman lying about her virginity. A Muslim man was granted an annulment by a French court because his wife lied about being a virgin and the man claimed that virginity was one of her “essential qualities.”
Report proves Gulf War Syndrome
Despite years of absurd denials by the US government, Gulf War Syndrome does exist. Exposure to pesticides and use of the anti-nerve agent pill, pyridostigmine bromide, sickened twenty-five percent of Gulf War vets. In related news, crackpots still deny human-caused climate change.