Thousands sign Web petition against Alaska wolf hunt. “Alaska’s wolf wars have
hit cyberspace with the listing of an online petition opposing a Web site auction for a guided wolf hunt
near Denali National Park and Preserve.

The hunt, offered on eBay by outfitter Brent Keith of Healy, Alaska, is a fund-raiser for rock star Ted
Nugent’s Kamp for Kids, a program that gets kids out of urban areas, away from drugs and crime, and
into the woods to learn how to bowhunt.” The petition is here, if you’re so inclined. When I looked today, it had 9,196 of a target 10,000 signatures.

Strom in the Balance: “It may be hard sometimes to escape the impression that the Senate chamber
resembles the fossil-strewn reading room of some Ivy League club, occupied by
alumni from before the Depression, men with rich lives behind them and no place
else to go. But it is equally hard to escape the judgment of which institution does
better at capitalizing on their experience. Offering excellent health care, the
stimulating presence of young people, a range of activities from simple to
complex and relevancy, the Senate is the most effective nursing home in the
world, which no doubt helps explain why Thurmond has lived so long.” New York Times

Parents’ Sexual Orientation Matters, Study Finds: “USC sociologists Timothy Biblarz and Judith Stacey examined 21 studies on the subject dating back
to 1980 and found that children of lesbians and gays are more likely to depart from traditional
gender roles than children of heterosexual couples. Their findings were published in the American
Sociological Review.

In an interview on Friday, Biblarz said that the study found that information on the subject had
previously been stifled and the differences played down.”

Gene Therapy Restores Vision in Dog: “Using gene therapy, scientists have restored vision
in dogs with a version of a rare disease that blinds human infants. The
work may lead to treatments for several genetic forms of blindness.” AP

Exorcising the Homunculus: There’s No One Behind the Curtain. A neuroscience perspective from a research associate at the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition in Pittsburgh on the localization of will. “What emerges is a general story in which the frontal cortex sends actively maintained control signals to much of the rest of the
brain. The nature of these signals is selected primarily by circuits in the limbic system, based on predictions of reward. The control
signals maintained in working memory, along with conflict-related processing in the anterior cingulate, give rise to the selection of
appropriate actions for the current situation.” Free Inquiry

Baby Not Crawling? Reason Seems to Be Less Tummy Time. “(P)ediatricians …are noticing more and more
babies who are not lifting their heads when
they used to, who are not turning over and
who are not crawling at 6 to 8 months,
when popular baby books say they should.

Developmental specialists say they think they know why babies are acting this
way: it is an entirely benign, but unexpected and unintended, consequence of a
public health campaign to teach parents to put babies to sleep on their backs to
prevent sudden infant death syndrome.

An increasing number of babies never crawl at all, pediatricians say, going
directly from sitting to toddling. And they are seeing more parents … who are worried that something is wrong.” New York Times

We Fear, Therefore We Make. “The genesis of culture is fear, argues Hungarian
sociologist Elemér Hankiss in Fears and Symbols: An Introduction to the
Study of Western Civilization , and
in order to prove his thesis, he examines an array of
human symbols, behaviors and other cultural
phenomena as manifestations of how people cope with
what frightens them.” Central Europe Review

100 Down, Only 1361 to Go: In Early Battles, Bush Learns Need for Compromises. Li’l George has given himself high marks at the hundred-day milepost, and has been praised for moderation and compromising on such issues as taxation and spending. New York Times But, hello, could it be more a function of having less legitimacy and mandate than any other sitting President and realizing that he may have a hard time getting through any of the polemical (and polarizing) policy he promised in an unsuccessful attempt to court his electoral constituency? Incidentally, as I predicted, he’s using his intellectual limitations as an asset, endearing himself to a public relieved rather than concerned at having a lightweight in office.

Adbusters: Fools Festival: “On April 1st 2001, legions of fools in ten
different countries descended on their local
malls and let money rain down on the heads of
the shell-shocked. The resulting pandemonium
was a boon to the foolish at heart and proved
that throwing money at the problem works –
when the problem is conformity!

Way to go fools!”

The Decline and Fall (cont’d.): 6 Red Cross Aid Workers Are Slain in Congo. The accelerating phenomenon of murders by combatants of humanitarian aid workers represents to me the height of barbarity and evidence that the thin shreds of humanity left in the world are fraying further. “The attack, which apparently occurred early Thursday
afternoon, claimed the greatest number of the neutral
organization’s workers since a December 1996 massacre in
which six hospital staff were brutally slain in Chechnya. Three
Red Cross workers were murdered in the central African country
of Burundi the same year…

The latest incident, Geneva officials said, may well be linked to
the proliferation of undisciplined military forces that do not
respect the traditional Red Cross role. In 1996 fighting in the
former Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
soldiers ignored the protective sign and looted humanitarian
supplies, according to Red Cross officials.” Twenty-seven expatriates working under the Red Cross have been killed in the course of their duties since World War II, the majority of them since 1990. International Herald Tribune

Reproductive Emergency. Wendy Kaminer: “Battles over anti-abortion measures like these are important, but they are mere skirmishes
compared to the upcoming fight over the next Supreme Court nominee. Justice Sandra Day
O’Connor, who has been crucial in maintaining the 5–4 majority in favor of Roe, is expected to
retire soon. Bush will, no doubt, nominate a judge opposed to abortion rights, and if he or she
is confirmed, Roe v. Wade will be overruled as soon as the next case challenging it wends its
way to the Court.

The crusade to make abortions illegal and unsafe (they are unlikely ever to be rare) does pose
political risks for Republicans. If outright abortion prohibitions and a reversal of Roe v. Wade
were popular, Bush would not have cloaked his support for them during the campaign. Female
voters deprived of all abortion rights could become a more potent political force than are male
voters who fear being deprived of their guns. If reproductive choice falls victim to the Bush
administration, the administration could in turn fall victim to reproductive choice. But once
revoked, rights are not quickly or easily restored; and the Supreme Court outlives the
administrations that shape it. A Bush Court would survive, while women and girls would die
from illegal abortions.” The American Prospect

Bush Whacked. Robert Kuttner: “George W. Bush is losing his working majority in Congress. The only surprise is that it took so
long. As recently as a month ago, the new administration imagined that its tax package would
just sail through on a tide of media torpor, Republican discipline, and bipartisan gesture.” The American Prospect