AMERICAN NOTES

STUDY: WHY PEOPLE DON'T USE TURN SIGNALS

UPI - Fifty-seven percent of Americans admit to having personal reasons
for not using turn signals while driving. A recent survey of 1,000
adults, conducted by Response Insurance, found 23 percent of drivers
admit they are just plain "lazy," while 17 percent don't signal because
when they do, they forget to turn off the blinker. Twelve percent said
they change lanes too frequently to bother with signals; 11 percent say
signaling is unimportant; 8 percent say they don't signal because other
drivers don't -- and 2 percent say they don't have enough time. A
surprising 7 percent said driving without signaling "adds excitement."

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060317-063848-7672r

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LIBERAL BABY BUST SHIFTS NATION'S POLITICS

PHILLIP LONGMAN, USA TODAY - What's the difference between Seattle and
Salt Lake City? There are many differences, of course, but here's one
you might not know. In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than
children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.
This curious fact might at first seem trivial, but it reflects a much
broader and little-noticed demographic trend that has deep implications
for the future of global culture and politics. It's not that people in a
progressive city such as Seattle are so much fonder of dogs than are
people in a conservative city such as Salt Lake City. It's that
progressives are so much less likely to have children.

It's a pattern found throughout the world, and it augers a far more
conservative future - one in which patriarchy and other traditional
values make a comeback, if only by default. Childlessness and small
families are increasingly the norm today among progressive secularists.
As a consequence, an increasing share of all children born into the
world are descended from a share of the population whose conservative
values have led them to raise large families.

Today, fertility correlates strongly with a wide range of political,
cultural and religious attitudes. In the USA, for example, 47% of people
who attend church weekly say their ideal family size is three or more
children. By contrast, 27% of those who seldom attend church want that
many kids.

http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060314/oplede14.art.htm

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NON-RELIGIOUS ARE FASTEST GROWING BELIEF SYSTEM IN U.S.

MELISSA FLETCHER STOELTJE, SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS - A study done by
the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that the
percentage of the population that describes itself as "nonreligious"
more than doubled from 1990 to 2001, from 14.3 million to 29.4 million
people. The only other group to show growth was Muslims. "Right now, the
fastest-growing religious identity in America is the nonreligious," says
Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a
Madison, Wis.-based group that champions church-state separation and
works to educate the public on non-theism. A study by the Pew Forum on
Religion and Public Life found that 16 percent of Americans (about 35
million) consider themselves "unaffiliated" -- a category that includes
"unaffiliated believers," "secularists" and atheists/agnostics.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/living/religion/14121950.htm

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46% OF AMERICANS WANT POT TREATED LIKE ALCOHOL

HIGH TIMES - Nearly one out of two Americans support amending federal
law "to let states legally regulate and tax marijuana the way they do
liquor and gambling," according to a national poll of 1,004 likely
voters by Zogby International and commissioned by the NORML Foundation.

Forty-six percent of respondents -- including a majority of those polled
on the east (53 percent) and west (55 percent) coasts -- say they
support allowing states to regulate marijuana in a manner similar to
alcohol. Forty-nine percent of respondents opposed taxing and regulating
cannabis, and five percent were undecided.

"Public support for replacing the illicit marijuana market with a
legally regulated, controlled market similar to alcohol -- complete with
age restrictions and quality controls -- continues to grow," NORML
Executive Director Allen St. Pierre said. "NORML's challenge is to
convert this growing public support into a tangible public policy that
no longer criminalizes those adults who use marijuana responsibly."

Respondents' support for marijuana law reform was strongly influenced by
age and political affiliation. Nearly two-thirds of 18-29 year-olds (65
percent) and half of 50-64 year-olds think federal law should be amended
to allow states the option to regulate marijuana, while majorities of
30-49 year-olds (58 percent) and seniors 65 and older (52 percent)
oppose such a change.

Among those respondents who identified themselves as Democrats, 59
percent back taxing and regulating marijuana compared to only 33 percent
of Republicans. Forty-four percent of Independents and 85 percent of
Libertarians say they supported the law change.

Respondents' opinions were also influenced by religious affiliation.
Nearly 70 percent of respondents who identified themselves as Jewish,
and nearly 60 percent of respondents who said they were non-religious
believe that states should regulate cannabis, while only 48 percent of
Catholics and 38 percent of Protestants support such a policy.

A previous Zogby poll of 1,024 likely voters found that 61 percent of
respondents opposed arresting and jailing non-violent marijuana
consumers.

http://www.hightimes.com/ht/news/content.php?bid=529&aid=5

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WHALES SOPHISTICATED IN LANGUAGE

NEW SCIENTIST - Humpback whales use their own syntax – or grammar – in
the complex songs they sing, say researchers who have developed a
mathematical technique to probe the mysteries of whale song. The team
adds that whales are the only other animals beside humans to use
hierarchical structure in language, in which phrases are embedded in
larger, recurring themes. . . Male humpback whales produce songs that
last anywhere from about six to 30 minutes. These vocalizations vary
greatly across seasons, and during breeding periods they are thought to
help attract female partners. . . Researchers describe human language as
hierarchical because it consists of sentences which contain clauses,
which in turn contain words. This hierarchy helps us to extract meaning
from what we hear.

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn8886&feedId=online-news_rss20

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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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KANSAS TO FINGERPRINT AT TRAFFIC STOPS

BENITA Y. WILLIAMS, KANSAS CITY STAR - If you are stopped by police in
Kansas, don’t be surprised if the officer pulls out a little black box
and takes your fingerprints. The gadget allows officers to identify
people by fingerprints without hauling them to the police station. Over
the next year the Kansas Bureau of Investigation will test 60 of the
devices with law enforcement agencies around the state. State officials
said similar tests are being planned for New York, Milwaukee and Hawaii.
. .

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/14155275.htm?source=
yahoodist&content=ksc_news

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POST CONSTITUTIONAL AMERICA .
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NYC TO SPY ON CITIZENS USING HUNDREDS OF CAMERAS

NY DAILY NEWS - The NYPD is installing 505 surveillance cameras around
the city - and pushing to safeguard lower Manhattan with a "ring of
steel" that could track hundreds of thousands of people and cars a day,
authorities revealed yesterday. . . The NYPD has no comprehensive system
to monitor the Financial District - considered the nation's No. 1 terror
target - and a team of five NYPD experts visited London in September to
get a look at the "ring of steel." Aboveground, London has cameras
posted at 16 entry points and 12 exits from the City of London, an
enclave that includes that city's financial district and landmarks such
as St. Paul's Cathedral. The cameras capture images of license plates
and drivers' faces. Officials then run the license plates through a
database of stolen cars and terrorism suspects. Last year, the system
read 37 million cars and got 91,000 hits, leading to 550 arrests.

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/401871p-340392c.html

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MISSISSIPPI BAN ON SEX TOYS UPHELD BY FEDERAL COURT

AP - A federal appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed
by a Rankin County adult store, which challenged the constitutionality
of a Mississippi law that bans the sale of sex toys. The lawsuit was
brought by Romantic Adventures, owned by HCH Corp., in federal court in
2004 after two of its employees were charged with violation of the law,
and its sexual devices were seized. . . HCH Corp. contended that the
state law violated freedom of speech and privacy rights and other
constitutional issues.

http://www.clarionledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060315/NEWS/
603150308/1002/NEWS01

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CECI CONNOLLY, WASHINGTON POST - The proportion of U.S. physicians
providing charity care has steadily declined over the past decade, even
as the number of Americans without health insurance has risen
significantly. . . In 2004-2005, 68 percent of doctors said they
delivered some free or discounted care to low-income patients, down from
the 76 percent recorded 10 years earlier, according to a national survey
being released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/22/
AR2006032202052.html?nav=rss_health


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WORDS
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I was so micromanaged that they were telling me how to pronounce
syllables of words." -- Bob Edwards on his former employer, National
Public Radio

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FURTHERMORE. . .
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ERIC WOLFF, NY METRO - Though the ports deal has been torpedoed, Dubai
still possesses some crucial pieces of America’s patrimony. Dubai
Holdings, the state company of Dubai, already owns the Helmsley
Building, the Essex House, and Madame Tussauds Wax Museum, which boasts
American-as-apple-pie wax renditions of eight presidents - and
self-appointed national conscience George Clooney. Dubai International
Capital is the third-largest investor in DaimlerChrysler, and through
investments with the Carlyle Group and JPMorgan, Sheikh Mohammed bin
Rashid Al Maktoum has dollars and dirhams in a wide range of U.S.
companies. Each Dunkin’ Donuts’ coffee, Baskin-Robbins sundae, Hertz car
rental, and Alain Ducasse dinner New Yorkers buy makes the sheikh
richer.

http://www.nymetro.com/news/intelligencer/16476/index.html

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BBC - One in 10 people wear their underwear for three days in a row, a
peep into the nation's smalls has revealed. And a similar percentage of
people has owned a pair of knickers or underpants for more than 10
years. The survey showed 5% of the population also admitted wearing
their briefs inside out to get an extra day's wear

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4831180.stm

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REUTERS - Older women who say talk shows and soap operas are their
favorite TV programs tend to score more poorly on tests of memory,
attention and other cognitive skills, researchers reported Monday. . . A
study of 289 older women without dementia found that those who rated
talk shows and soaps as their favorite programs performed more poorly on
tests of memory, attention and mental quickness than their peers who
cited other types of shows. What's more, they were at greater risk of
showing signs of clinical impairment. For example, compared with women
who preferred to watch news programs, those who favored soaps were more
than seven times more likely to show signs of impairment on one of the
tests, while talk show fans were more than 13 times more likely to
demonstrate impairment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060320/hl_nm/daytime_tv_dc_1

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AL KAMEN, WASHINGTON POST - Sidwell Friends School's fundraising
catalogue values a private lunch with former president Bill Clinton as
"priceless." Well, not exactly. It's more like $7,500 per person to be
one of 30 people having lunch April 24 with the ex-pres. . . Half the
seats can be bid on in advance for $7,500. The rest go up for live
auction April 9. The brochure calls Clinton, whose daughter graduated
from the tony private school in Northwest in '97, "the most respected
leader in the world." Funny. We always thought that was Nelson Mandela .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/21/
AR2006032101524.html?nav=rss_opinion/columns


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WHY UNLICENSED BROADCASTING SHOULD NOT BE A CRIME
http://www.cei.org/gencon/004,05214.cfm