BITS & BITES

RED STATE TOWN TO REVIVE DADA

LAWRENCE JOURNAL WORLD, KS - Lawrence residents, pay heed to what your
mayor has to say - "zimzim urallala zimzim urallala zimzim zanzibar
zimzalla zam." . . . Mayor Boog Highberger wants to awaken Lawrence to
the wacky world of Dadaism, an early 20th century art movement that
embraced chance, randomness and nonsense. Highberger will proclaim
International Dadaism Month at the city's weekly commission meeting. As
part of the proclamation, Highberger will utter the "zimzim" phrase,
from a poem by Dada founder Hugo Ball, the late German author and poet.
The words have no meaning, which Highberger said is the point. "I just
think it is good to acknowledge that there is a place for chance and
nonsense in every healthy lifestyle," Highberger said.

Dadaism - more frequently called Dada - was an international art
movement started during World War I in Zurich, Switzerland. Most
scholars generally agree that the movement - with its art that often
featured random shapes and images and its poetry that made use of
nonsensical phrases - was started to express the confusion felt by many
as World War I raged, leaving carnage in its wake. . .

In Dada spirit, Highberger did not select a specific month to celebrate
Dada. Instead he's proclaiming International Dada month as Feb. 4, April
1, March 28, July 15, Aug. 2, Aug. 7, Aug. 16, Aug. 26, Sept. 18, Sept.
22, Oct. 1, Oct. 17 and Oct. 26. Highberger selected the dates by
rolling dice and pulling numbers from a hat.. . .

The mayor also said he wasn't trying to make a political statement about
the war in Iraq, though he is interested in the parallels between
today's times and Dada's birth in World War I. . .

Not everyone is sure what's going on, though. Reaction to Highberger's
proclamation on Friday afternoon drew a mix of reactions from people on
Massachusetts Street. "It sounds like a waste of time to me," said Joe
Hutchens, a Lawrence construction worker who said the issue would
provide another reason for other Kansas communities to laugh at
Lawrence. "It seems like the City Commission would have something better
to do than that."

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2005/dec/24/mayor_says_its_time_nonsense/?city_local


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TEXAS MACHINE COUNT ADDS 100,000 VOTES TO TOTAL

JIM DRINKARD, USA TODAY WASHINGTON - Problems using voting machines in
the Texas and Illinois primaries this month have reinforced fears that
the 2006 elections may be beset with glitches. "There's a lot of
evidence that some of those fears are coming to pass," says Doug Chapin,
president of Electionline, a non-partisan group that studies elections.
. .

In Texas, a candidate for the state Supreme Court will contest the March
7 primary because of what he calls widespread problems using new
machines. In Fort Worth, an initial ballot count showed about 150,000
votes even though there were only one-third that many voters, says David
Rogers, campaign manager for the candidate, Steve Smith. And in San
Angelo, balky new equipment and a close local race led to a recount that
was halted after it appeared some votes were missing.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-03-27-voting-machines_x.htm

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A SCHOOL WHERE KIDS ARE ALLOWED TO FIDGET

CHRIS WILLIAMS ASSOCIATED PRESS - The fidgety boys and girls in Phil
Rynearson's classroom get up and move around whenever they want, and
that's just fine with him. In fact, stretching, swaying and even
balancing on big wobbly exercise balls are the point of this
experimental classroom. The goal is to see whether getting children to
move even a little can help combat childhood obesity. As an added perk,
there is some splashy technology, too -- laptop computers, a wireless
network and IPods. The data aren't in, but Mr. Rynearson and
Superintendent Jerry Williams say the fourth- and fifth-graders are more
focused on the curriculum than their peers in a comparison group in an
ordinary classroom. There are fewer distractions than in the traditional
setup -- where a lot of time is spent trying to get children to sit
still. "Sitting isn't bad," Mr. Rynearson said. "But I think kids need
to move." The classroom is the idea of Mayo Clinic researcher Dr. James
Levine, also the mastermind of an office of the future that encourages
more movement from deskbound white-collar workers. For schoolchildren,
Dr. Levine said, "My dream was kids shooting hoops and spelling," much
like the American basketball game of H-O-R-S-E.

http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20060328-112551-2876r.htm

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FIELD NOTES
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TEN WORST CORPORATIONS OF 2005
http://multinationalmonitor.org/mm2005/112005/mokhiber.html

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TOP COUNTRIES FOR ATHEISTS & AGNOSTICS
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_atheist.html

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HOW GEICO RATES YOU FOR AUTO INSURANCE
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/
2006/03/25/AR2006032500109_pf.html

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LABOR NEWS: A two to four minute daily podcast with information about
unions, workers, salaries, wages, and people who make it on a check.

http://labornews.us/

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GENE TARGETED INJECTION COULD REVOLUTIONIZE MEDICINE

INDEPENDENT, UK - A single injection of a new type of drug could cut
cholesterol levels by two thirds and significantly reduce the risk of
heart disease and blocked arteries, a study has found. Scientists have
successfully interfered with the gene involved in producing high levels
of harmful cholesterol in the bloodstream using a treatment that
promises to revolutionize medicine.

Using synthetic molecules of RNA - a close relative of DNA, the molecule
of inheritance - scientists have silenced the gene for apolipoprotein B
(apoB), which plays a critical role in the metabolism of cholesterol.

The treatment is one of many that are being developed using the
phenomenon of RNA interference which promises to create new ways of
tackling a range of illnesses from cancer and genetic disorders to viral
infections.

The researchers used small molecules of RNA that were targeted against
the apoB gene of monkeys. The study, published today in the online
version of Nature, showed that RNA interference caused a 75 per cent
reduction in the harmful low-density version of cholesterol.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article353885.ece


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RELIGION & ITS ALTERNATIVES
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SAN FRANCISCO SUPERVISORS SAY NO TO POPE'S NEW GRAND INQUISITOR

DOUG IRELAND, DIRELAND - The San Francisco Board of Supervisors took the
unusual step of unanimously passing a resolution unanimously condemning
the appointment of [San Francisco Archbishop William Levada to be head
of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith], so reactionary is
he, saying, "Cardinal Levada is a decidedly unqualified representative
of his former home city, and of the people of San Francisco and the
values they hold dear." The resolution was motivated by Levada's
militant opposition to the right of same-sex couples to adopt, and the
Board of Supervisors' resolution went on to say that, "It is an insult
to all San Franciscans when a foreign country, like the Vatican, meddles
with and attempts to negatively influence this great city's existing and
established customs and traditions, such as the right of same-sex
couples to adopt and care for children in need."

The resolution blasted the teaching of the Catholic Church that
homosexual adoption does "violence" to children as "hateful and
discriminatory rhetoric (that) is both insulting and callous, and shows
a level of insensitivity and ignorance which has seldom been encountered
by this Board of Supervisors."

http://direland.typepad.com/direland/2006/03/the_popes_new_g.html

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SCALIA GIVES CRITICS THE FINGER IN CHURCH

UPI - U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia startled reporters in
Boston just minutes after attending a mass, by flipping a middle finger
to his critics. A Boston Herald reporter asked the 70-year-old
conservative Roman Catholic if he faces much questioning over
impartiality when it comes to issues separating church and state. "You
know what I say to those people?" Scalia replied, making the obscene
gesture and explaining "That's Sicilian."

The 20-year veteran of the high court was caught making the gesture by a
photographer with The Pilot, the Archdiocese of Boston's newspaper.
"Don't publish that," Scalia told the photographer, the Herald said.

http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060327-100356-7854r

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CIVIL LIBERTIES
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PAUL NEWMAN JOINS THE COPYWRONG CROWD

BBC - Actor Paul Newman has joined calls for the legislature in
Connecticut to pass a law protecting image rights. Newman is among a
group of actors backing a bill banning the use of a person's image or
voice without consent for up to 70 years after their death. Newman, who
lives in the state, told a state assembly hearing that technology meant
he could appear in "a whole movie" without his permission. . . The bill
would forbid use of a person's "right of publicity" without proper
consent for commercial purposes. It would take in a person's name,
voice, signature, image and mannerisms. Nineteen other states have
passed similar laws.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4844570.stm

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WOMAN TICKETED FOR 'BUSHIT' BUMPERSTICKER

DENISE GRIER, FLAGPOLE - I was driving in Atlanta (DeKalb County) and I
got pulled over by the police. Imagine my utter surprise when the cop
told me I had a "lewd decal" on my bumper! Those darn kids of mine. . .
must have put something terrible on my car. I am an 47-year-old female,
mostly conservative person, so it could not possibly be one of my bumper
stickers that caused the police to pull me over. . . How wrong was I.
The police told me that my anti-Bush sticker that reads "I am tired of
all the Bushit" was lewd according to DeKalb standards; he then
proceeded to give me a lecture.

My kids would have been so proud of me. I told the police officer in my
most motherly voice that if he was going to give me a ticket to do so,
but I did not want to discuss my politics with him and that I would see
him in court. So there we are. I go to court in DeKalb County on Apr. 18
and have written up some petitions that my children will help me to get
signed.

http://flagpole.com/articles.php?fp=Letters&ISSUE=2006-03-22

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OTHER NEWS
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THEORY: GO-GETTING WOMEN HAVE KILLED FEMINISM

ANUSHKA ASTHANA AND DENIS CAMPBELL, OBSERVER, UK - Chiara Cargnel wants
to have it all: a high-flying career and a successful marriage. So far
she is halfway there. At 26, she is an investment banker in London
working over 70 hours a week and earning more than L80,000 a year.
Cargnel, like many other young women, is excelling in a world many
thought governed not by their rules, but by rules set and enforced by
men. For the first time in history these 'elite women' can succeed in
any career they want. According to a remarkable thesis that has blown
open the debate around feminism, sexism and the future role of women, a
new generation of bright, rich professionals have broken through the
glass ceiling and have nothing to fear from the men around them. They
will be just as successful.

The thesis was expounded in a highly controversial article for Prospect
magazine by Alison Wolf, a professor at Kings College London and author
of Does Education Matter? She argues that the meteoric rise of this new
generation of 'go-getting women' who want high-powered, well-paid jobs
has dire consequences for society. Wolf says it has diverted the most
talented away from the caring professions such as teaching, stopped them
volunteering, is in danger of ending the notion of 'female altruism',
has turned many women off having children - and has effectively killed
off feminism.

'[It is] the death of the sisterhood,' Wolf writes. 'An end to the
millennia during which women of all classes shared the same major life
experiences to a far greater degree than men. . .

The article argues that the most educated women will now earn as much as
men over a lifetime if they have no children. Even with children, the
gap will be small. The desire to be successful acts as a major
disincentive to women starting a family, Wolf argues. . .

She is wrong on one point, according to Katherine Rake, director of
women's equality group the Fawcett Society. Rake argues that 'the
sisterhood' is very much alive and rejects Wolf's thesis that women of
all classes no longer share the same major life experiences. 'Women are
not a homogeneous group, but we never have been,' said Rake. 'We are a
diverse group, but we still share experiences.'

Rake dismissed as 'an unfair portrayal' the idea that feminism focused
overly on getting women into employment. She argued: 'The most
interesting and radical strands of feminism value a whole variety of
roles. It is about working on a balance between men and women and
valuing unpaid work such as looking after the children.' She said women
did not have a true choice about whether to take the larger burden of
childcare because the pay gap meant it was often more economical for the
woman to do it. She highlighted the fact that part-time work was often
not available in the professions chosen by 'elite women'.

Others argued that there was still a glass ceiling blocking the path of
young professionals. Jenny Watson, chair of the Equal Opportunities
Commission, accused Wolf of 'painting a rosier view than exists of the
realities of women's lives' and ignoring the difficulties many women
face when trying to resume their careers after a break to give birth.

'Wolf completely misses the point on several key issues,' said Watson.
'She does not reflect the fact that this whole debate about work and
family is no longer only about women and these days involves, for
example, fathers' increasing desire to be more involved at home. Women
experience a thin veneer of equality, but that veneer often cracks once
they take on a caring role.'

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,1739858,00.html

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DEPARTMENT OF SILLY TALKS

AL KAMEN, WASHINGTON POST - President Bush, who's been touting his Iraq
policy across the country this week, "is at his best when he's answering
real and difficult questions from a cross section of Americans," White
House communications director Nicolle Wallace said a few days ago. So
some congressional Democrats were wondering whether his Q&A on Wednesday
in Wheeling, W.Va., must have shown him at his worst.

"I thank God that you're our commander in chief," one questioner began.
"You're a man for our times. . . . And I'm a supporter of yours. . . .
And God bless you, and I thank you for your service." Then another
hardball from the audience: "Do you like living in the White House?"

Another listener fired: "I want to let you know that every service at
our church, you are by name lifted up in prayer -- and you and your
staff and all of our leaders. And we believe in you. We are behind you.
And we cannot thank you enough for what you've done to shape our
country. . . ."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/23/
AR2006032301449_pf.html