It’s been 14 years since the military let gays in the military as long as they kept their sexual orientation to themselves. Now, 28 retired generals and admirals think it’s time we shove the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy back in the closet.
Once again this week, Gov. Blagojevich was a no-show in Springfield when the action heated up in the legislature. He wasn't there to bend any arms before the House rejected a Democratic plan to bail out the CTA. Some people wonder what it is that keeps him away from the capital. We wonder what it is that keeps him in his home in Chicago for such long stretches. In addition to making conference calls and doing other official business, does he use his private time writing a history of the Cubs, or blogging under an alias?
On sports radio Thursday, we heard that Hall of Fame quarterback Archie Manning--father of the Colts' Peyton and the Giants' Eli--doesn't travel from his home in New Orleans to see his sons play because he's too fond of sitting in his den watching his big screen. Is the governor hooked on his entertainment center, too? If so, could he please tell us what kind of screen he has, whether he prefers HD-DVD or Blu-ray, and what kind of chair he lounges in? We'd like to test this stuff out and see if can keep us from reporting to work, too.
Responses to caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were way over the top in the Muslim world. They included acts of violence. But they weren't much more irrational than the arrest in Khartoum of a British teacher for letting her 7-year-old students name a teddy bear Muhammad.
The kids, who attend a private school in the Sudanese capital, chose the popular name over contenders including Abdullah and Hassan. The teddy bear was a kind of class mascot that each of the students took home and wrote about, like many American kids do with a stuffed turtle. For her efforts to make learning about animals fun, the teacher was charged with insulting Islam. If found guilty, she may be lashed.
Doesn't intent ever figure in these "offenses"? How, or why, would anyone think the teacher intended any of this as an insult — or that Muhammad, in all his loving wisdom, would take offense?
That stereotype about blonds not being very bright is oh, so wrong — just look at Hillary Clinton, Martha Stewart and Reese Witherspoon. But now a recent study suggests nonblondes get dumber when they've been around a blond person, according to the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. People may perform below their ability if they believe that person is not very bright. Look who's dumb now.
It smacks as double dipping when some cable subscribers pay for HDTV then have to pay again for the service when watching certain professional sports events. When media regulations are reformed, maybe this redundant payment structure should be, too.
U.S. Sen. Trent Lott’s decision to step down by the end of the year today engulfed his fellow Republicans in a wave of panic. The conservative, pro-business leader from Mississippi only was about a year into his six-year term.
U.S. Rep. Danny Davis of Chicago, who is black, was ticketed for a traffic violation last week by two white police officers. They said his car was swerving. He insists it wasn't, saying he was a victim of racial profiling. His three passengers were also black. "If this happens to Danny Davis, then what goes on with Jack Jones or John Smith?" he reportedly said at a Thanksgiving charity function.
We can all agree on two things: Racial profiling is bad. And acting to uphold the law or protect the public is good. If Davis was pulled over for driving while black, the offending officers should be sternly disciplined. But if his driving was, in fact, erratic, police were right to stop him. In the interest of public safety — and the congressman's own safety — the distinguished Rep. Davis should have been treated no more leniently than Jack Jones or John Smith.
Davis was the third local pol with a high profile to be pulled over in recent times. In uglier and more questionable circumstances two years ago, state Sen. James Meeks had his driver ordered to pull over by a white cop. Meeks claimed when he got out of the car —never a good move — the cop pulled a gun and uttered obscenities. More recently, Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) was ticketed for violating the new ordinance against talking on a cell phone while driving. His subsequent bad moves were calling the district commander to indignantly protest the ticket and then accepting the special treatment of having his driver's license hand-delivered back to him in his ward office.
Everyone should be treated equally under the law; no one should be squeezed by "the law" —as police used to be called in crime dramas — because of the color of their skin.
A judge tried to lock out the media and the public from a juvenile trial in the Jena 6 case.
But another judge ruled the case against Mychal Bell must remain open.
He made the right decision.
It sounds like something from the Third World.
Kids at a school were given only a half a glass of water per day.
But this didn't happen in a drought-stricken nation. It happened here in Chicago at the
Jose de Diego Community Academy in Humboldt Park.
The United Nations announced this week that far fewer people are living with the virus that causes AIDS. It's estimated that 33 million people have the AIDS virus down from higher estimates of 39.5 million worldwide.
Some have suggested that governments can now spend less money and devote less attention to AIDS awareness because the problems is not as serious as once thought. This is a mistake.
After 28 years, leaders of the Khmer Rouge have been arrested and charged.
Their leader, Pol Pot, died before he could be brought before an international tribunal for the deaths of 1.7 million Cambodians in the mid-to-late 1970s.
But the first of five of their other leaders was in court this week on charges of crimes against humanity.
Hopefully, there will finally be justice for the Cambodian people who survived the Killing Fields.
They have not forgotten the genocide, and refugees in Chicago have built the first Cambodian American Heritage Museum and Killing Fields Memorial.
To curb the spread of HIV among prisoners, there's a move afoot to distribute condoms. So naturally, there is opposition from those who say that encourages homosexuality.
Nonsense! The same illogic was behind opposition to the distribution of clean syringes to intravenous drug users. The goal was to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS through dirty needles. If infected addicts didn't share their syringes, they likely wouldn't transmit their infection, and needle-exchange programs sprang up in major cities, funded by private foundations. The benefits of giving away clean needles was soon apparent, and government-sponsored programs soon spread.
I suspect the same will be true of prison condom distribution. Prison authorities frown on it, but the reality is that sex among men in prison is fairly common.
Illinois needs to get with the program: If the state won't test incoming prisoners and isolate those who already are infected, at least it could make condoms available to limit the spread of HIV-- both in prison and in the community when those men are released and have sex with women. The savings in HIV medical treatments would be worth the cost.
I can't believe the University of Chicago spent good money on a survey that concludes women 55 and older are "enjoying sex more than women the same age a decade ago."
Duh.
A decade ago, a lot of gray-haired men weren't being bombarded with those sexual enhancement ads, either.
And why wouldn't older women who are doing it rave about the orgasm?
If a 50-plus female is lucky enough to find a desirable man, and that man gives her eye-contact long enough for her to communicate a willingness to bare her declining assets, and he takes her up on it--she's got something to shout about.
Atlanta Falcons' Michael Vick opted to report to prison three weeks before he was to be sentenced for a federal dogfighting charge. Do you think his apologies for dogfighting and taking responsibility for his actions should warrant another chance in the NFL when he gets out of prison?
The parents of Tawana Brawley want New York officials to reinvestigate Brawleys' allegations of rape — 20 years later. Brawley's claim that she was gang-raped and smeared with feces and racial epithets were deemed a hoax. Brawley has since changed her name and works as a nurse. Do you think New York State should reopen this proverbial can of worms?
As if CTA riders don't have enough to worry about. The next doomsday scenario for commuters is looming early next year. Now there's talk that the CTA unions might go on strike to force lawmakers to come up with extra cash to keep the buses and trains running — and at a fare most riders can afford.
This week two women were strangled, set on fire and dumped in garbage containers on the South Side.
Police are investigating whether the two murders - two miles apart- are connected. One of the victims, Theresa Bunn, 21, was eight months pregnant.
Do you think this story of two murdered women has been downplayed by the media compared to the disappearance of Stacy Peterson?
We're all for moments of silence. We like them in hallowed halls and temples and are moved by them at grave sites and Washington memorials. But we don't like them when they're enforced--which is what Illinois schools have been trying to do since the state passed a law requiring a moment of silence--for prayer or "reflection"--at the start of each school day.
The law, which went into effect Oct. 11, may not survive a legal challenge. Today, a federal judge ruled the Illinois State Board of Education could not enforce the "moment," issuing a preliminary junction against a northwest suburban school district. We won't get into the specifics of the challenge here. But don't teachers and students, and administrators and superintendents, have enough to worry about without having to contend with the vagaries of this closeted faith-waving law? Like what constitutes a "moment"--10 seconds? 20? A minute? Don't the courts already have their hands full with cases involving atheists who don't want their kids to have anything to do with the pledge of allegiance?
