current affairs
From the Wall Street Journal:
Housing starts decreased 12% to a seasonally adjusted 947,000 annual rate, after falling 0.7% in February to 1.075 million, the Commerce Department said on Wednesday. Originally, Commerce reported February starts 0.6% lower, at 1.065 million. Building permits also dropped in March. (WSJ)
Twelve percent?!
Anyone really believe the housing slump is going to end any time soon?
The drama at the Yearning for Zion compound has a familiar ring to anyone raised in any kind of sect that preaches seclusion from the world. Different definitions of reality; different morality; different everything. The outside world is not to be trusted; the outside world is evil; our protective group is heaven.
ABC was recently allowed into the compound and interviewed some of the women, who have now been separated from their children.
Neil Karlinsky, the correspondent, asks a group of mothers who insist that children are not abused in the compound whether or not young girls are forced into marriage.
"We're talking about our children," is the reply to Karlinsky's repeated questioning.
That's the point -- so is Karlinsky, and so is the state. "We can't understand why the state took the children away from us," say the mothers. "Because we don't know what you're doing to your children," comes the reply.
Another woman, when asked if she shares a husband with other wives, says she cannot answer the question at this time.
"Why not?" Karlinsky presses.
"Because it's sacred to me," she replies.
"I take that to mean a yes," Karlinsky responds, reading viewers' minds.
Yet as a parent now, I cannot imagine what the parents of these children must be going through. Not only has Child Protective Services taken these children, but they've taken them into the wild of the world. For the parents, these children are at risk in every sense of the word. I imagine the opposite: my child taken from me and plopped down in Yearning for Zion, where everyone holds beliefs diametrically opposed to my own: I would fear for my daughter's safety in more ways than one.
Jeff Lindsay, at Mormanity, writes,
This case is not about the children. It's about the power of the State. No apologies. No backing down. No care for the children who are being traumatized and abused as they are torn from their mothers. It's all for their own good and protection, just like the Cultural Revolution. (Source)
It's abusive to rip them away from their mothers that way; it's abusive if young girls are being forced into marriages. Which abuse is worse?
There is, apparently, a place in California where gas is now $5.20 a gallon.
But it's still not as bad as Polska, where gas (due primarily to taxes) is about $7 a gallon (though sold in liters for zloty, of course). When you take into account the significantly lower wages compared to the average here, you end up paying over $15 a gallon.
When gas prices get to be $5 a gallon throughout the States (and it will probably happen ridiculously fast), will we finally get serious about alternatives? Will people start, at the very least, buying more fuel-efficient cars?
Americans, however, are not shunning these beasts. Far from it. Auto industry figures show that after a two-year slump, sales of the gas guzzlers are up over 2006 -- in some cases, way up.
The numbers for large SUVs rose nearly 6 percent in the first quarter of 2007, and the April figures were up 25 percent from April 2006, according to automakers' statistics provided by Edmunds.com, an automotive research Web site. (SF Chronicle)
Probably not.
Most Stunning View in Town Is the One at the Pump - New York Times
Common sense:
In this country you can own a gun and still not know how to use it. And even if you know how to fire it, you don’t necessarily know how to fire it under pressure. The people who are supposed to respond to situations involving firearms go through a lot of training which prepares them to deal with these situations. It’s the rare armed civilian who’s going to be anything more than a hindrance in a firefight.
From the BBC:
Leading politicians have distanced themselves from the Archbishop of Canterbury's belief that some Sharia law in the UK seems "unavoidable".
Gordon Brown's spokesman said the prime minister "believes that British laws should be based on British values".
The Tories called the archbishop's remarks "unhelpful" and the Lib Dems said all must abide by the rule of law.
Dr Rowan Williams said the UK had to "face up to the fact" some citizens do not relate to the British legal system. (Archbishop sparks Sharia law row)
I'm going to sound like a right-winger for this, but I'll say it: it seems to me that if you have problems relating to the legal system of your country of residence, perhaps you should consider changing your country of residence; if you desire Sharia law, perhaps you should go to one of the countries where it is enforced -- Iran and Saudi Arabia come to mind.
Interesting -- in an ad-y way -- how the family is looking on, from a distance, as if their house is being built.
Huckabee on the proposed stimulus package (via memory via NPR): We're giving people all this money, which we're going to get in loans from China. Then we're going to tell Americans to go out and spend it, mostly on products produced in China. Who's economy is getting stimulated?
Marc Acito, in an NPR commentary, developed similar ideas.
If we get said check, we're going to invest it in new windows. The bliss of being a homeowner...
On his "Issues" page regarding marriage, Huckabee writes,
I support and have always supported passage of a federal constitutional amendment that defines marriage as a union between one man and one woman. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My personal belief is that marriage is between one man and one woman, for life. (Mike Huckabee for President - Issues)
If it's a personal belief, why literally make a Federal issue out of it?