what's going on here (part XXIV)...

can someone, please, explain...

1. 'I Abhor Injustice,' Alleged Madam Says

Miz Julia was the pseudonym for Deborah Jeane Palfrey, the woman at the center of a sex scandal that has caused a deputy secretary of state to resign and has lawyers calling around town trying to keep their clients' names out of public view. A one-time law student, Palfrey ran for 13 years what she insists was a legal escort service. Federal prosecutors allege she was providing $300-an-hour prostitutes, and a grand jury indicted her in February on federal racketeering charges....

On Friday, Randall L. Tobias resigned as deputy secretary of state one day after confirming to Brian Ross of ABC that he had patronized the Pamela Martin firm. Speaking yesterday on "Good Morning America," Ross said Tobias told him Tobias's number was on Palfrey's phone records because he had called "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." There had been "no sex," Ross quoted Tobias as saying, and that recently he has used another service, "with Central American gals," for massages....

You see, if it ain't about money, then it's about sex. Oh, and by the way, though Mr. Tobias denies that there was any sex, he was K. George W's AID's Czar! Do massages count as abstinence? just asking...

2. New Noah's Ark ready to sail

SCHAGEN, Netherlands (AP) -- The massive central door in the side of Noah's Ark was thrown open Saturday -- you could say it was the first time in 4,000 years -- drawing a crowd of curious pilgrims and townsfolk to behold the wonder.

Of course, it's only a replica of the biblical Ark, built by Dutch creationist Johan Huibers as a testament to his faith in the literal truth of the Bible.

Reckoning by the old biblical measurements, Johan's fully functional ark is 150 cubits long, 30 cubits high and 20 cubits wide. That's two-thirds the length of a football field and as high as a three-story house. (Watch a tour of the replica Ark )

Life-size models of giraffes, elephants, lions, crocodiles, zebras, bison and other animals greet visitors as they arrive in the main hold.

Some people have too much time on their hands. Some people have too much money and don't need anymore. [Did you notice the cash register in the video link? Think Noah had one too?] Some people will do anything for attention. Some people want everyone to believe as they believe only. Do you think the damn thing will even float? mmmmmm...

3. The Daddy Dilemma

YOU'D THINK that we have enough problems keeping fathers around in this country, what with out-of-wedlock births and divorce. But these days, American fatherhood has yet another hostile force to contend with: artificial insemination, or AI.

While the number of kids born as a result of the procedure (about 1 million so far in the United States) is still quite small, AI is having a disproportionate cultural and legal effect and is advancing a cause once celebrated only in the most obscure radical journals: the dad-free family.

Today's sperm banks provide lengthy online catalogs of donors, containing such basic stats as height, hair color, eye color and education, as well as results from personality tests for an extra fee. The sophisticated marketing of sperm banks, which appeals to single women and lesbians as well as infertile married couples, has coincided with what I call the "unmarriage revolution"— that is, the decoupling of marriage and child-rearing. The California Cryobank, the country's largest sperm bank, estimates that about 40% of its customers are unmarried women. The Sperm Bank of California says that two-thirds of its clientele are lesbian couples.

And the courts are going along with saying that the donor has absolutely no rights in the upbringing of the child. Activist judges? Hardly. It happened in Kansas recently. Now, the christianists don't seem to be taking any sort of stand on this that I could find, but where is their outrage on not only defending the traditional family but also on the attack towards the patriarchal nature of their religion? You don't even need a penis to have a baby anymore. where's the fun in that? oh, wait. It is technically part of Bush's abstinence policy...

4. Condoms Strike Fear At Iowa College

(Ankeny, Iowa) Several classrooms at Des Moines Area Community College were evacuated after college officials became nervous about a suspicious package.

College officials called police and postal inspectors after the box was delivered Thursday.

What they found inside wasn't a bomb - it was a box containing 500 condoms.

The package was sent to a teacher of a human sexuality class, and was sent by a person who had been a previous speaker at the class, said Rob Denson, the college's president.

See, I told you. Sex gets people's attention quicker than anything else. Oh? Do you think that this might have been a christianist conspiracy? it doesn't fit into their abstinence policy...

5. Actor calls daughter 'rude, thoughtless little pig'

A voice mail Baldwin left for his 11-year-old daughter, in which he can be heard calling her ''a rude, thoughtless little pig,'' was published Thursday by celebrity news site TMZ.com.

I was not going to touch this, but since I have a lot of experience with teaching 11/12-year olds, I have to say/ask, "Maybe she is a 'rude, thoughtless little pig'?" Most of them are, especially the girls. The boys will fight and break each other's jaws and then be best friends the next day again. The girls, on the other hand, go on and on and on and on... They rely on "he said, she said" tactics, refuse to pay any attention to reason, and show indignance when put to task. Am I lumping all 11/12-year old girls together with this? Pretty much so. When they turn 13 the vast majority stop behaving like this. [Go Figure. I've never been able to do so.] After teaching 5th & 6th grades for so many years, I had to ask a principal to please, please, please put me with a lower age group. My own puberty was bad enough. Going through it over and over with kids was starting to get to me. However, I do agree with one thing in the Baldwin situation: It should never have been made public. It is a private family matter and the person who made it available to the media should have their tubes tied so they never have (any more) kids. He/she is actually the "'rude, thoughtless little pig'!


Sources: 1. Washington Post, 2. CNN.com, 3. Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, 4. 365gay.com, 5. Chicago Sun-Times