Here’s what some commentators are talking about today:
Joe Conason says “To avoid war, Bush should engage in direct negotiations with Iran – and restore America’s commitment to its own disarmament.” I agree. It’s too important an issue to screw up, and the last thing we need is another war.
Regina Lynn reports on proposed changes to porn laws, which would require that websites “verify the age of every performer, keep records about the performers’ identities and make those records available to the government.” Not only is this a breach of individual privacy, but a central problem is that sites like YouPorn (one which “boasts a higher Alexa rating than both CNN and Weather.com”) will find it almost impossible to comply with the new laws because they rely on anonymous contributions to exist. One further example of government interference, well-intentioned or not. This law needs to be opposed.
Andrew Blum tells of a new skyscraping condo building in Manhattan which features the ‘En-Suite Sky Garage’, an “8,000-pound-capacity freight elevator that whisks your Bentley directly into your pad.” A two-bedroom apartment with this feature will set you back $4.7 million.
Conor Foley says “There was surprisingly little comment on last week’s formal handover of responsibility for national security from the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) to the security service MI5.” He goes on to make MI5 the bad guys, something I can’t for the life of me understand.
Sue Blackmore speaks up in support for the brilliant scientist James Watson who this week “has had a prestigious lecture cancelled because he dared to mention the unpalatable possibility that IQ may differ between races…”. My own comments on the issue can be found here.