Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Outdated Laws ??

I was pretty amused when Aki sent me this article about a law against cohabitation in NC.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/03/29/cohabitation.lawsuit.ap/index.html
The article said that NC was one of the 7 states with such a law. Also in these states convicted offenders faced a fine and upto 60 days in jail. Out of mere curiosity I googled "law against cohabitation" and found this link http://www.unmarriedamerica.org/News-About-Us/Anti-cohabitation.htm
It seems the 7 states with laws against cohabitation are Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia. Arizona and New Mexico "de-criminalized" cohabitation in 2001. (how progressive!)
So I guess this makes a lot of people I know * closely * law breakers;)
I *cannot* believe that these laws still exist even today. Even the county authorities don't take the law seriously I guess , because they don't prevent people who cohabit from buying a home together.. they can do that under federal law as "tenants-in-common".
Oh I really really need to move across the river now..

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Pro Life

While the whole country is engaged in debates on whether Terry Schiavo's feeding tube should be disconnected,with the pro-life lobby saying its a "sin" to take a life away, the horrible shooting incident in MN yesterday that claimed 10 lives(including the life of the shooter) seems to be a secondary issue. The shooter in question , a 16 year old named Jeff Weise, shot his grandfather ( a veteran police officer) and his companion, stole additional weapons , a holster, bullet-proof vest and the squad car and then proceeded to Red Lake High School, where he shot the security guard and opened fire on the students. He finally ended the carnage by shooting himself in the head. This is the worst shooting since Columbine in 1999. To be fair, the media is covering this incident avidly, and the President did issue a statement expressing "regret" over the incident. But I'm sure that nothing will happen beyond this - whatever details are revealed by the police and whatever recommendations are made to enhance security, Congress won't meet with the urgency they did for Terry Schiavo ( to appease the pro-life social conservatives and evangelists) . In fact no "real" steps will ever be taken since it would involve stricter gun laws and that would provoke outrage among the NRA and gun lobby. Unfortunately in a country where people who are pro-life go to any extent to prevent lives from being "lost" through abortions and euthanasia, so many more lives are "lost" every year because of opposition to gun restrictions by most of the same people.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Cheney-isms

Pretty funny ... check it out -
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/07/opinion/07seely.html

Tuesday, March 01, 2005

Cows sell!

After the failure of their mantra of "India shining" and subsquent disarray in the party, the BJP's gone back to what made it popular in the first place .. hindutva and ... cows..
Their souvenir store in Delhi sells cow products apart from the usual party memorabilia (like wall clocks with Vajpayee's face on them!) . The cow products include medicines which are advertised as "miraculous cures" to everything from cancer , diabetes, constipation and "ladies diseases". And this was the party that ruled us for 5 years and boasted of its focus on education , science and technology and taking India into the 21st century..
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1037082.cms