Pax Nortona – A Blog by Joel Sax

The news is mostly death — suicide bombers and insurgents. News coverage killing of 250 Iraqi rebels near Najaf strikes me as resounding with too much joy in the slaugher. At least they used the words “alleged” when they spoke of the insurgents’ intents. Meanwhile there is very little talk of what Hillary Clinton is up to after her first invasion of Iowa on Friday. Aside from Barack Obama, the media behaves as if there are no other runners for the presidency.

• Latin — which is spoken only in the Vatican — is dying out as a language following church reforms of the 1960s. “At the Vatican, bishops appointments are still written on papyrus in Latin as are letters of congratulations from the pope, but many bishops and cardinals write back asking for translations.”
• Great Britain is taking steps to regulate alternative therapists following concerns about sexual abuse by acupuncturists and hypnotherapists. ‘The ‘Barefoot Doctor’ – known to millions from his TV career, his range of products stocked by high-street chemists and a form of healing based on Tao philosophy – has been forced to issue an extraordinary statement admitting to having sex with ex-patients in the past.’
• California is trying to relieve overcrowded prison conditions by enticing convicts to transfer to institutions in other parts of the country. Still, the old gang ties keep jailbirds from accepting the offers: only 600 of a needed 19,000 takers have signed on. Of course, if we decriminalized possession and use of street drugs, this might become less of a problem. But there’s money in building new prisons.
• Egypt is not happy with a contest to name the Seven Wonders of the World. Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, argues that the pyramids live “in the hearts of people around the globe, and don’t need a vote to be among the world wonders.” Contest organizers say that it is time to move into a new century. (The New Seven Wonders website)
• The Mercury News has launched an investigation into the police custody death of a bipolar man with a history of “suicide by cop”.
• Check out the ads that PETA is using to promote its cause. (Anyone for a little bondage thrill?) One shouldn’t be too surprised by these ads, I think, because the Animal Rights movement has long had an antagonistic streak about it. At the heart of its message is the implication that human reverence for human life is impossible without granting full rights (voting rights, too?) to animals. Let’s just say that the issues are more complicated than PETA wishes to acknowledge and that their use of rights models ends up aiding the causes of those who wish to dehumanize others. How many viewers of these PETA ads use them for mastubatory material, I wonder? The only realistic answer that a PETA activist can really give is “that doesn’t matter” and that answer, I retort, damns the movement. If you say “human rights are not important unless animal rights are guaranteed” then this is what you get.

If you find any articles worthy of mention in these roundups, send the URL to gazissax at best dot com. And feel free to comment!