Get over it
Failing to realize that the presidential election has been over for more than a year, members of the anti-Bush group World Can’t Wait gathered on Sproul for another whine fest. This time, speakers at the event praised the anti-American president of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, as well as Harry Belafonte, Sean Penn, and others who are incapable of making a distinction between George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden. One speaker railed against Justice Samuel Alito, whom he claimed was “handpicked by the Christian Right.” The rally was not without dissenters, as members of the Berkeley College Republicans were on hand to show their support for the president.
No forgery here
Former CBS Evening News anchorman Dan Rather made a rare appearance at UC Berkeley on February 21, and took time out to pick up a copy of the Patriot.
A bipartisan conclusion
Scientists at Emory University have discovered that liberals and conservatives are equally irrational when talking politics. Using MRI scanners, researchers studied how the politically partisan brain responded to negative information about a favored candidate. Psychologist Drew Westen, lead author of the study, found that the brain processes of both die-hard Democrats and Republicans are emotional and unconscious when it comes to comprehending contradictory political information. Neither side uses the “cold reasoning” regions of the brain’s cortex to process political disagreement. If conservatives are just as irrational as liberals, then the study must not have included Michael Moore in its sample.
A uniform policy
The wife of Florida Congressman C.W. Bill Young was removed from the capital gallery during the State of the Union Address. Her crime: wearing a T-shirt that read, “Support the Troops Defending Our Freedom.” Beverly Young told the St. Petersburg Times that her shirt was worn to show support for our troops, unlike Cindy Sheehan, who was also removed for wearing a shirt that read, “2,245 Dead. How many more?” On the House floor the next day, Rep. Young expressed disappointment in his wife’s treatment, calling her removal for supporting the troops a “shame.”
Pro-choice (sort of)
Pro-choice activists sued Wal-Mart for exercising its own right to choose. Three Massachusetts women, with the support of abortion-rights groups, filed suit against the big-box retailer for not carrying the morning-after pill. Dan Fogelman, a Wal-Mart spokesperson, explained that the company “chooses not to carry many products for business reasons.” The lawsuit seeks to force Wal-Mart to carry the contraceptive in its 44 Massachusetts branches.
Supply and demand
How do you make money off the riots against the Danish newspapers? Sell flags to burn. Gaza entrepreneur Ahmed Abu Dayya told Reuters that he ordered 100 Danish and Norwegian flags to sell to protestors when he heard that European newspapers were reprinting the controversial caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad. He said, “I knew there would be a demand for the flags because of the angry reaction of people over the offense to Prophet Muhammad.” Selling his flags for $11 a piece, Abu Dayya also sells Israeli flags to burn, which he orders from an Israeli company.
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