Bogus domestic violence

Here is a good new article on false domestic violence allegations.

Black abortions

There is a lot of buzz about Bill Bennett's comments about black abortions, but those on both sides don't seem to address the real issue. Bennett's defenders argue that he was quoted out of context, but that's not it. Listen to the whole context, and it sounds like he is saying:

I am anti-abortion. The pro-abortion arguments do not persuade me. For example, even if abortion could be used to exterminate the entire black race and thereby slash the crime rate, I'd still be against it.

Bennett is not saying that black babies should be aborted, but he is suggesting that:

The crime rate is much higher among black Americans. The problem is genetic, and the obvious solution is to kill them before birth.

Many black people refuse to believe that the crime rate is any higher for blacks, and they are very offended by any suggestion that it is an inborn problem. Furthermore, they are suspicious that right-wingers are racists who want to get rid of them. They think that Bennett wants to get rid of the black race, but does not advocate it because he believes that the end does not justify the means.

On the other hand, I can see why Bennett thought that the subject was fair game for public comment. A popular book, Freakonomics, has promoted the idea that American abortions have drastically cut. The book does a careful dance around the racial implications (as explained here), and has been widely praised. The thesis has also been attacked as being wrong. I haven't been able to figure out who is correct.

Bill Bennett's brother Bob is in the news also. He is the lawyer representing NY Times reporter Judith Miller. Miller's main claim to fame is that she was the one who convinced the public that Iraq had WMD. Now this NY Times story says that she spent 3 months in jail because Bennett didn't explain to her that her source had waived confidentiality. So either Bob Bennett has messed up another case, or Miller just went to jail as a publicity stunt, or there is more going on than what we have been told.

Here is Bill Bennett's statement on the matter. I think that his defense of himself has just made the matter worse. The more he says, the worse it sounds.

Sen. Feinstein wants a man

Sen. Diane Feinstein questioned John Roberts like this:

FEINSTEIN: Let me ask you this question this way: If you were in that situation with someone you deeply love and ...

FEINSTEIN: I'm trying to see your feelings as a man.

FEINSTEIN: How would you feel if you were in that position?

I do expect to know a little bit more about how you feel and how you think as a man, ...

I thought that she was trying to get into his pants. Today, she voted against him.

Career women abandon sex

UK news:

Busy career women are abandoning sex and seeking inappropriate IVF treatment to have instant babies, doctors have claimed.

It is estimated that one in seven UK couples have difficulty conceiving. However, many women take up IVF treatment, before they discover this because they are simply too busy or tired to have sex.

Emma Cannon runs the fertility programme at Westover House clinic in London, which has seen a 20 per cent increase in the number of women seeking 'inappropriate' IVF.

She said: "People want everything now. If they can't have a baby now, they want IVF. They think it's no different from putting your name down for a handbag."

IVF is the test-tube baby procedure.

Arnold is consistent

The Bush-haters just love to argue that right-wingers are inconsistent somehow. They act like hypocrisy is the worst of all sins. Here is a typical opinion, from the San Jose paper:

Schwarzenegger and gay marriage

So Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (Page 5B, Sept. 25) says he has ``never really felt that strong one way or another'' about gay marriage. But he is supposedly vetoing the bill legalizing such marriages because of a 2000 vote on a California ballot initiative.

In that same election, however, the people of California clearly also indicated that their ``will'' was not to have George W. Bush in the White House. So then what was the governor's rationale for campaigning for him in 2004 in Ohio?

Janice Hough
Palo Alto

This letter is foolish for several reasons. First, the governor is obligated to veto an unconstitutional law. The constitution says that only a referendum can repeal another referendum. Second, Schwarzenegger has bet his career that the popular vote of Californians can do better than the legislature, so he must support popular referenda of the past. Third, Schwarzenegger is a Republican, and so he is going to support other Republicans. Fourth, Bush's first term expired, and he could very well be the best candidate on the ballot in 2004 even if he was not the best in 2000. Fifth, Bush won Ohio, so Schwarnegger was supporting the will of the people there.

Same-sex marriage is likely to be on the ballot again in California next year. If Janice Hough and the other leftist Bush-hater really believed these silly consistency arguments, then they would vote against same-sex marriage so that opposite-sex marriage will be affirmed again.

Gay penguins not so gay

People often argue that homosexuality is natural because it occurs in the animal world. An example is the book Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity, which even goes so far as to deny Darwinian evolution in order to promote animal homosexuality.

One trouble with this argument is that animal analogies don't always deliver the politically correct message. This news story says:

Gay penguin goes straight

THE animal kingdom's most famous gay couple has split up. Silo and Roy, the cohabiting penguins of Central Park Zoo, are no longer an item. The pair rose to prominence six years ago when they came out with their same-sex relationship.

Since then, they have successfully hatched and raised an adoptive chick (after an uncertain start that involved trying to incubate a rock). ... But the affair ended when Scrappy, a new female penguin, moved into the neighbourhood and caught Silo's eye. ... Silo promptly moved in with Scrappy, building a new nest with her.

Zookeepers are at a loss to explain Silo's sudden conversion.

Yeah, the liberals and homosexuals making animal analogies will also be at a loss to explain it also. The alleged homosexuality in animals really doesn't resemble homosexual behavior in humans at all.

No free speech in Australia

This blog claims that there are Australian academic journals that refuse to publish papers discussing racial policies, because are worried about prosecution under an anti-discrimination law.

Silly sex prosecutions

News of the weird:

"Sex Offenders": Charbel Hamaty, of Lebanese descent, spent six months in jail in Raleigh, N.C., after being arrested last year for "molesting" his infant son, with the evidence consisting of family snapshots of Hamaty playfully kissing the nude tot's belly button. Only after a protest campaign did a judge finally dismiss the charge, according to a July report by WRAL-TV. Not so lucky was Fitzroy Barnaby of Evanston, Ill., who angrily grabbed the arm of a 14-year-old girl whom he almost ran into as she was playing dangerously in traffic. He was convicted under the state's "restraining a minor" statute, which requires that its violators be listed as sex offenders (even though the trial judge and, in June, the state Appellate Court, both discounted any sexual motive). [WRAL-TV (Raleigh, N.C.), 7-26-05] [Chicago Sun-Times, 7-1-05]

Not all accused sex offenders are guilty.

Correlating mortality

Here is a story about some silly research:

THURSDAY, Sept. 15 (HealthDay News) -- In a somewhat unexpected finding, societal male dominance over women -- patriarchy -- may help explain why men have a lower life expectancy than women worldwide.

British researchers analyzed rates of female murders and male death rates from all causes in 51 countries in Europe, Asia, Australasia, and North and South America. The prevalence of violence against women was used to indicate the extent of patriarchal control in each of the countries. Socioeconomic factors were also taken into consideration.

The study found that women lived longer than men in all 51 countries.

Here is the abstract and the full pdf. All it is really saying is that certain male death rates are correlated with female death rates. Nothing surprising there. The strange part is that it measures patriarchy by looking at female homicides. That is not what the term means at all and female homicide is an absurd measure.

Sri Lankan girls

News:

Sept 17, Colombo: The Sri Lankan Cabinet has decided to reduce the age of consent for sexual encounters from 16 to 13 years.

Cabinet spokesperson Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva said the action has been taken due to rising numbers of men arrested for sexual relations with girls below the age of 16.

I guess that is one way to solve the problem.

Missing child found

John sends this story:

Alfonso McGee, a 2-year-old who was the subject of a missing-child alert issued Friday afternoon, was safely handed over to Alton police Friday evening, the police reported.

The alerts had said the boy was last seen with his mother, Latasha Ewing, who does not have custody of the child. The alert was issued when Ewing did not return the boy after a scheduled visit, police said.

and writes:

Friday afternoon KMOX broadcast an all points bulletin for this missing child, last seen with his own mother - and giving a description of her car! Isn't that ridiculous?

Yes it is. The public should not be bothered with a petty custody dispute. Many (if not most) of the missing kids on milk cartons are in the loving care of a parent. Maybe the parent is in violation of a court order, but it is very unlikely that the court had a fair hearing in the first, and impossible to know whether the child is in good hands or not.

The public should only be alerted in the case of a stranger kidnapping.

Healthy, wholesome, and sound

A fashion firm says:

We are very anti-drugs and insist all our models are healthy, wholesome and sound.

And they don't want the tabloids showing photos of Kate Moss snorting cocaine.

Racist T-shirt

News from a Florida school:

The undershirt the white student wore had a confederate flag on the front with the words "Keep it flying." On the back, a cartoon depicted a group of hooded Klansmen standing outside a church, waving to two others who had just pulled away in a car reading "Just married."

Two black men in nooses were being dragged behind.

Upset by the shirt, a 17-year-old black student hit the white student in the head. A crowd of about 100 students gathered to watch the Aug. 29 fight before authorities intervened.

The white student said he left the school following a three-day suspension. He said he was supposed to go back on a Friday but school officials called and asked his family to keep him home until the following week because "the school's in an uproar." ...

"I'm not racist or anything," he said. "It's just, some people I hate, some people I don't get along with. And black people just happen to be the ones because they think they're better than everyone else."

The student said his parents were shocked at his decision, Mom dismayed and Dad disappointed.

"I just can't believe you'd wear a shirt like that to school," he said was their reaction. "My mom was kind of upset about it. My dad was like, whatever, it's your life." ...

"I'm a redneck," he said. "But no, I'm not racist."

Subtle distinction.

Falsely accusing boyfriend of rape

Boston AP story:

BOSTON --A woman who falsely accused her boyfriend of rape was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for committing perjury.

Rebecca Harland, 33, was convicted on four counts of perjury for lying to a grand jury when she identified Scott Smith as the man who raped her in 1999.

Prosecutors said Harland identified Smith as her attacker to get back at him because he had left her for another woman.

Smith, 42, a limousine driver from Melrose, spent eight months in jail awaiting trial until prosecutors concluded that Harland was actually raped by an unidentified drug dealer, not Smith.

During Harland's trial, a longtime friend of hers testified that four days after the rape, Harland told her that her attacker was a drug dealer but that she had blamed Smith because he had broken off their relationship to be with another woman. Harland's friend did not tell authorities about the conversation until months later when she learned Smith had been jailed.

Prosecution witnesses testified that when authorities first questioned Harland about the rape, she said her attacker was a black man wearing a white T-shirt and jeans. She repeated that account later, but then changed her story and said Smith, who is white, was the rapist.

They should not have even needed the testimony of the woman's friend. If the victim changes her story because she was confused about whether the rapist was a black drug dealer or a white ex-boyfriend, then she is unreliable, at best. The ex-boyfriend should not have spent 8 months in jail.

Party aims to ban marriage

Euro feminist news:

A new political party in Sweden says it will abolish marriage if it gets into power.

The Feminist Initiative, which expects more than 20% of the vote in next year's election, claims marriage "is not about love, but about ownership".

FI founder Tiina Rosenberg, said: "Instead of marriage we want to promote a co-habitation law that ignores gender and allows more than two people in a partnership."

But she said in allowing relationships to involve more than two people, the FI did not want Sweden to fall back into a "patriarchal structure" with one man having a harem of women.

"A man who lives with eight women in a patriarchal structure, where the man decides and the women obey is not what we are aiming for," said Rosenberg.

And in order to encourage men to vote for them as well, the party's all-female board is also calling for the introduction of a six-hour working day.

This is so goofy that it sounds like a parody.

More damage caused by Freud

This legal article says:

The tender years doctrine (intended to apply to children under age 6) was originally invoked to determine temporary custody arrangements in English law, giving mothers custody of infants only until they were ready to be returned to the father. But by the 1920's, the maternal preference for custody in English and American law, regardless of the child's age, became as firmly fixed as the earlier paternal preference, and was encoded in statute in all 48 states. The assumption that mothers were better suited to nurture and raise children received an intellectual underpinning in the 1930's from Freudian psychoanalytic theory, which focused exclusively on the mother-child relationship, and ignored the role of the father in the child's development.

The experiment is over. The maternal preference for custody has proved to be a big mistake. Freudian psychoanalytic theory has also proved to be a big mistake.

UK child support

John sends this UK story, which says that mothers receive less than half of what fathers pay in "child support", when it is collected by the Child Support Agency. The rest is pocketed by govt bureaucrats. (None of it goes to the children.) This is why govt bureaucrats are usually in favor of keeping the payments high.

Playing mind games on a date

Online dating news:

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Manhattan fertility specialist has been sued by two women who say he broke their hearts after meeting them through an online dating site on which he pretended to be single.

In their lawsuits the two women, Tiffany Wang and Jing Huang, accused Dr. Khaled Zeitoun, 46, of pretending to be single and using mind games to entice them into sexual relationships with tales of past lives.

According to court papers filed in Manhattan Supreme Court and made public this week, Zeitoun is married with three children. Wang said she met him in March 2001 through a Web site on which he said he was single and had never married.

"Zeitoun claimed he and Wang had been married to each other in previous lives," Wang's lawsuit said, adding that the doctor told her he had mistreated her in that life and "searched for her in this lifetime to correct his past mistakes."

Wang says that in May 2002, he asked her to marry him but only proposed "to see the look of joy on her face."

In a separate suit filed earlier this year, Huang said she met the reproductive endocrinologist in October 2003 through an online dating service. He fed her a similar line about being single and having been married to her in a previous life.

I am all in favor of people telling the truth, but if New York passes a law against telling silly romantic lies or playing mind games on a date, then a lot of people could end up in court. I have never heard of a couple that did not play mind games.

Louisiana: wet and wild

The Louisiana Sierra Club starts its web page with this:

The Delta Chapter is the Sierra Club in the State of Louisiana. We advance the cause of protecting Louisiana's environment in a variety of ways, including lobbying the state legislature in Baton Rouge, sponsoring a Mercury Public Education Campaign, raising public awareness about climate change, and working to keep the Atchafalaya Basin, America's greatest river swamp, wet and wild.

A friend of mine went to Mardi Gras, and he came back grinning about how "wet and wild" it was. I got the link from this NRO column.

Katrina graphics

The NY Times has excellent Katrina graphics.