Insert a Trite Metaphor for a Corral #65

Posted on March 5, 2007 in Roundup

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A new nuclear warhead has been approved and there is no talk of sanctions or embargos or blockades or wars. Proponents argue that it is “not a new nuclear weapon” but there’s no penalty to be paid for the double-talk.

The developer of the new weapon of mass destruction is, of course, the United States.

Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein was among the critics in Congress. “The minute you begin to put more sophisticated nuclear warheads on the existing fleet, you are essentially creating a new nuclear weapon. And it’s just a matter of time before other nations do the same,” the Associated Press quotes her as saying. This could serve to encourage the very proliferation we are trying to prevent.”

It doesn’t help our cause in the Middle East that we’re not fulfilling our promises to those places, such as Libya, which choose to disarm. Matches right up with our failure to properly compensate and protect our veterans who fought in our oil war.

It sounds like the greatest cliche but we cannot afford to push the country into a new nuclear arms race. I wish it were just common sense.

• One Europe, One Textbook: That’s the idea being promulgated by German educators. A common history book is already being used in French and German schools. Each chapter is written by two historians, one French, one German. The idea is that pupils across Europe would learn about events and their causes from all sides – not just their own country’s version. I am hesitant about this project because it would erase the differences that make the EU such an exciting prospect. Is this just a natural evolution or literary eugenics? One must remember that France has a great deal to hide regarding its participation in the Second World War, for example, namely that it was a country of quislings who allowed the Germans to overrun them and ship out their Jews.
• Red Racism: Members of the Cherokee tribe voted to expel descendants of slaves once held by tribe members. Principal Chief Chad Smith said about 8,700 people had voted – more than the turnout for the Cherokee constitution vote of four years ago. He said: “The Cherokee people exercised the most basic democratic right, the right to vote. “Their voice is clear as to who should be citizens of the Cherokee Nation. No-one else has the right to make that determination.” But opponents of the amendment levelled accusations of discrimination. Tribal council member Taylor Keen said: “This is a sad chapter in Cherokee history… this is not my Cherokee Nation. My Cherokee Nation is one that honors all parts of her past.” A new trail of tears has begun.
• Deraptured: Despite waiting almost 2000 years to return to earth, Jesus was turned away at the Mexican order this morning by the Department of Homeland Security, which claimed the Lord had arrived without a proper passport. “The alien individual said this was ‘the second coming’ but failed to prove that he had been here before,” said John Snaggleburp, a border guard in Texas. “He had some scars and stuff, smelled and wore a funky old bed sheet: He was a weird looking dude.” More here.
• Choice Article: The Riddle of the Rocks
• Choice Gallery: Wounded Marine Returns Home to Wed
• Tortured Decision: The California State Supreme Court voted 4-3 to allow the state to issue tax-exempt government bonds — which would save private schools millions on new construction — if the bonds will be used for facilities where secular subjects are taught with an academic content similar to that provided in nonreligious schools. Of course, you can see the absurdity of the decision. A religious school can simply request the bonds for improvement of those facilities where literature or history is taught, then use the savings to build Creationist science facilities. So, by the back door, we finance religious belief.
• It Paid to Work for AHnold: Call it political hackmanship.
• Shrunken Sea Horse: Children who experience extreme levels of stress suffer from a withering of the hippocampus a new study finds.
• One Steak is Just Like Another: No wonder diners can’t tell the difference between cloned beef and the natural thing. This is one of those stories which evokes a hefty “DUH!” from me. Of course cloned beef tastes like beef because it is beef. It’s just the same steer over and over again. The question is will people tire of the same precise flavor?
• What Have I Got on My Wall? Steven Spielberg accidentally bought the stolen painting Russian Schoolroom eighteen years ago. To his credit, Spielberg turned himself in (and is parlaying the incident into a publicity coup.) Here’s the FBI circular.

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!