Focus

The Vatican has vetoed the American bishops’ zero tolerance policy for child sexual abuse. One complaint was that the policy “did not give a more detailed description of abuse”. Oh just go out and buy your own porn.

Most condescending sentence from a court this week: a panel of the 6th Circuit, upholding drug testing of welfare recipients in Michigan, said "We think it is beyond cavil that the state has a special need to insure that public moneys expended [on welfare] are used by the recipients for their intended purposes."

If you missed it on the business pages, the Bush admin tried to torpedo the brand-new legislation on corporate fraud, proposing to underfund it by 27% less than the law authorized.

In the stories about North Korea, no one is really exploring whether the US kept its end of the 1994 agreement, but there are certainly hints that at the very least it was well behind schedule. We need to know more.

Dick Armey, trying to get in his last few stupid comments before leaving Congress, has found a new political role model: “Al Qaeda doesn’t have a Senate. Al Qaeda doesn’t have a Sen. Daschle who has another focus. Al Qaeda has a clear focus. Terrorizing America is the first and only focus.” Also cheese. They like cheese.

Maybe states just shouldn’t have poet laureates. New Jersey’s is being accused of anti-semitism, California’s just resigned because he fudged his resumé, said he finished college when he didn’t. Let me repeat: fudged his resumé, to be poet laureate. He hadn’t gone through the state senate confirmation process, either. Let me repeat: a senate confirmation process, to be poet laureate. What would that be like? “Mr. Troupe, can you tell this committee what rhymes with vanilla?” Could have been worse, I suppose; Davis could have appointed Johnny Cochrane (If the poet laureate-ship don’t fit, you must re-submit) or Nipsy Russell.

Not to agree with the anti-Europe nutters, but Ireland’s referendum today was a mockery of a fraud of a sham. Last year they rejected the Nice Treaty (Nice the place, not the condition of being pleasant) expanding the EU to the East but also shifting some power away from the member states towards the not hugely democratic EU government. So, as is always the case when the people don’t do what they’re told in relation to Europe, they were made to vote again today, and get it right this time. To be sure, Ireland scrapped rules requiring equal time on tv and a pro & con pamphlet delivered to every household, and changed the question to a compound one, did they want to ratify the Nice Treaty *and* reject membership in a European army. The contempt for democratic practice seems to be growing everywhere. If it weren’t for the ferret guy I’m not sure I’d even be voting next month.


Tokyo: For office jokers unsatisfied with photocopies of their bottoms, a Japanese company has developed a copier with a large plastic screen that can print images of the entire body with “warts and all” definition. It costs £57,000. (AFP)