Uncle Jay

Legalization and Sound Economics

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama had some fun with at least one question at his online town hall, saying he doesn't think legalizing marijuana is a good strategy for turning around the economy.

Obama told the audience Thursday that one of the most popular questions was whether legalization of the illicit drug would help pull the nation out of the recession. The president jokingly said: "I don't know what this says about the online audience."

In a serious response, he said he didn't think that was a good economic policy.

N Korea Loading Rocket

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea said on Thursday that if the international community punishes it for next month's planned missile launch it will restart a nuclear plant that makes weapons grade plutonium.

The secretive state this week put a long-range missile in place for a launch the United States warned would violate U.N. sanctions imposed on Pyongyang for past weapons tests.

The planned launch, seen by some countries as a disguised military exercise, is the first big test for U.S. President Barack Obama in dealing with the prickly North, whose efforts to build a nuclear arsenal have long plagued ties with Washington.

North Korea warned that any action by the U.N. Security Council to punish it would be a "hostile act."

" ... All the processes for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula ... will be brought back to what used to be before their start and necessary strong measures will be taken," the North's foreign ministry spokesman said in comments carried by the official KCNA news agency.

North Korea has frozen its aging nuclear reactor and started to take apart its Yongbyon atomic plant under a deal signed by regional powers in 2005 that called for economic aid and better diplomatic standing for the isolated North in return. Despite the agreement, the North carried out a nuclear test in 2006.

The South Korean daily Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source as saying the North could fire its Taepodong-2 missile, which has the range to hit U.S. territory, by the weekend.

This is earlier than the April 4-8 timeframe Pyongyang announced for what it says is the launch of a satellite.

"Technically a launch is possible within three to four days," the Chosun Ilbo quoted a diplomatic source in Seoul as saying.

South Korea said the launch would be a serious challenge to security in north Asia, which accounts for one sixth of the global economy. Japan urged North Korea to refrain from action that would destabilize the region.

"We strongly urge the North to immediately stop the launch of a long-range missile, which would be a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council resolution 1718," South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae told reporters.

ROCKET ON THE PAD

On Wednesday, a U.S. counter-proliferation official told Reuters that North Korea appeared to have positioned the rocket on its launch pad.

Another U.S. official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said North Korea had placed together two stages of what is expected to be a three-stage rocket.

Once it has been positioned, North Korea will need several days to fuel the rocket which could, in theory, carry a warhead as far as Alaska. The only previous test of the rocket in 2006 ended in failure when it blew apart seconds after lift-off.

South Korea plans to dispatch an advanced destroyer capable of tracking and shooting down missiles to waters off the east coast, Yonhap news agency quoted government sources as saying.

The planned launch and growing tension on the Korean peninsula are beginning to worry financial markets in the South, although so far there has been only minor impact.

"If they really fire something, it would definitely shake the financial markets, but only briefly, as has been the case in many previous cases of provocation and clashes," said Jung Sung-min, a fixed-income analyst at Eugene Futures.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during a visit to Mexico, said the launch would deal a blow to six-party talks to end Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program.

Those talks sputtered to a halt in December over disagreement on how to check the North was disabling its nuclear facilities.

"This provocative action ... will not go unnoticed and there will be consequences," she told reporters, repeating earlier warnings it could put the issue before the U.N. Security Council for additional sanctions.

Pyongyang repeated its threat on Thursday to quit the six-party talks, which also involve South Korea, Russia, Japan, the United States and China, if it was punished.

CHINA TO BLOCK MORE SANCTIONS?

North Korea faces a range of U.N. sanctions and many analysts doubt new ones would get past China -- the nearest Pyongyang has to a powerful ally -- in the Security Council.

China, sticking to its low-key approach, said it hoped all "relevant parties will remain restrained and calm."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cautioned the international community against making rash decisions.

"Do not try to make evaluations before events have occurred," he said in Moscow, while noting U.N. Security Council resolutions should be adhered to.

A successful launch would be a huge boost at home to leader Kim Jong-il, whose illness last year -- widely thought to have been a stroke -- has raised questions over his grip on power.

North Korea has given international agencies notice of the rocket's planned trajectory that would take it over Japan, dropping booster stages to its east and west.

The U.S. military has said it could with "high probability" intercept any North Korean missile heading for U.S. territory, if ordered to do so. Pyongyang says any attempt to shoot down the rocket would be an act of war.

U.S. to Blame?

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday that an "insatiable" appetite in the United States for illegal drugs was to blame for much of the violence plaguing Mexico.

"We are. How could anybody conclude any differently?" Clinton told reporters in response to a question during a flight to Mexico for a two-day visit likely to be dominated by a drug war that killed 6,300 people in Mexico last year.

Clinton's visit comes as Washington has announced plans to ramp up security on the increasingly dangerous U.S.-Mexico border. Fears are growing that the spiraling violence in Mexico will spill over into the southern United States.

"Our insatiable demand for illegal drugs fuels the drug trade. Our inability to prevent weapons from being illegally smuggled across the border to arm these criminals causes the death of police officers, soldiers and civilians," Clinton said. "I feel very strongly we have a co-responsibility."

Clinton will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and discuss a broad range of U.S.-Mexican issues, including immigration and trade. Her visit also includes a stop in the northern business city of Monterrey on Thursday,

Clinton said the Obama administration was making progress on resolving a trucking dispute with Mexico and expected the U.S. Congress to be receptive to its ideas.

She also sought to address a belief among many Mexicans that the United States does not take sufficient responsibility for the $40 billion in illegal narcotics smuggled in from Mexico each year. Some feel the plans by Washington to better patrol its border are long overdue.

U.S. officials on Tuesday announced a $184 million program to add 360 security agents to border posts and step up searches for drugs, guns and money being smuggled by powerful cartels.

Under former President George W. Bush, the United States committed to a three-year $1.4 billion aid package to buy drug-fighting equipment for Mexico and Central America.

Brits Spy on Eco-Unfriendly Citizens

Our movements are already tracked by CCTV, speed cameras and even spies in dustbins.

Now snooping on the public has reached new heights with local authorities putting spy planes in the air to snoop on homeowners who are wasting too much energy.

Thermal imaging cameras are being used to create colour-coded maps which will enable council officers to identify offenders and pay them a visit to educate them about the harm to the environment and measures they can take.

A scheme is already under way in Broadland District Council in Norfolk, which has spent £30,000 hiring a plane with a thermal imaging camera.

It said the exercise has been so successful other local authorities are planning to follow suit.

But critics have warned the crackdown was another example of local authorities extending their charter to poke their noses into every aspect of people's lives.

Broadland, which covers towns including Aylsham, Reepham and Acle, hired the plane from a Leicestershire-based company for five days at the end of January.

The aircraft took images of homes and businesses, with those losing the most heat showing up as red, while better insulated properties appear blue.

The council's head of environmental services, Andy Jarvis, said the original plan was to target businesses but it was realised the scope could be extended to include residental properties.

'The project we put together was for a plane to go up on various nights flying strips of the district and taking pictures,' he said.

'Through those images, a thermal image photograph can be created in which you can pick out individual properties which are losing a lot of heat.

'We do a lot on domestic energy conservation already and realised it would be useful to see if any of the homes which were particularly hot were properties where people had not insulated their lofts.

'We were also able to look at very cold properties and think we might have picked up people on low incomes who are not heating their homes because they cannot afford to.'

More than half the UK's carbon dioxide emissions come from the domestic sector, which includes property and transport.

Almost 60 per cent of a household's heat is lost through uninsulated walls, lofts and windows, costing the average home £380 a year.

Insulation is estimated to reduce each home's carbon emissions by around two tonnes annually.

The first city in the UK to make a heat-loss map was Aberdeen, while the first local authority in England was Haringey Council, in London - although environmental groups at that time said they viewed the practice as a 'gimmick' of little real value.

The TaxPayers' Alliance has added concerns about the issue of privacy.

Chief executive Matthew Elliott said: 'People are sick and tired of being heckled and spied on by local government and this council has shown an utter disregard for the man on the street.'

He added: 'We're in a recession and you would have thought this council had better ways to spend £30,000.

'Taxpayers are already footing the bill for innumerable advertising campaigns at a time when families are struggling to make ends meet.'

But Conservative-led Broadlands insisted the heat-loss map would allow officers to pinpoint offenders and point out how to get help and grants to improve insulation to cut carbon emissions.

Council leader Simon Woodbridge said the project would 'effectively pay for itself within a few weeks in terms of the amounts of money we can help people to save'.

Lib Dem group leader Stuart Beadle added: 'Cameras are in place all over today and we have to accept them. So long as the right guidelines are in place and it will bring benefits, I think the scheme is a good thing.'

Britain now has more than four million CCTV cameras - a fifth of those in use around the world - and around 8,000 speed cameras.

Almost 500 local authorities have been using anti-terrorism powers brought in under the controversial Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act to launch a string of bizarre investigations.

These have included checks on dog fouling, putting bins out on the wrong day and people trying to cheat school catchment area rules.

When Myspace/Facebook Meets City Council Candidates

Tim Rogers over at D Magazine points us to this doozy: A picture of a shirtless Chazz Redd smiling proudly as he brandishes a pair of handguns.

Redd is among the gaggle of candidates attempting to defeat District 7 Dallas City Council incumbent Carolyn Davis.

If his campaign contributions run short, perhaps Redd could score a cool $100 off his shooters the next time Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway stages a gun buyback event.

You never know when your facebook may cost you in the future....

He's Special?

It seemed like a harmless remark.

In an appearance Thursday night on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," President Barack Obama made a joke about his lackluster bowling skills by saying: "It was like Special Olympics or something."

But the comment caused an immediate stir in Washington and around the nation.

Appearing at the White House after meeting with Obama to discuss roads and bridges, California Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he knew Obama meant nothing by it.

"I know where his heart is at," said Schwarzenegger, who considers the Special Olympics his favorite charity, appearing at major competitions and raising money around the world. "He loves Special Olympics, and he will do everything he can to help Special Olympics. And every one of us sometimes makes a mistake. Something comes out of your mouth and you say, 'Oops, I wish I wouldn't have said that.' I've had many of those."

Earlier in the day, California first lady Maria Shriver - whose mother, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics movement in 1968 - said that while she was confident Obama didn't intend to offend anyone, the remark "demonstrates the need to continue to educate the non-disabled community on the issues that confront those with a developmental disability."

Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin said she was "shocked to learn" about Obama's comment.

"This was a degrading remark about our world's most precious and unique people, coming from the most powerful position in the world," said Palin, whose son, Trig, was born with Down syndrome last year. "These athletes overcome more challenges, discrimination and adversity than most of us ever will."

"By the way, these athletes can outperform many of us and we should be proud of them," said Palin, who appeared in a video promoting this year's winter Special Olympics games in Boise, Idaho. "I hope President Obama's comments do not reflect how he truly feels about the special needs community."

The White House sought to explain Obama's comment by calling it "an offhand remark."

"The president made an offhand remark making fun of his own bowling that was in no way intended to disparage the Special Olympics," said White House spokesman Bill Burton. "He thinks that the Special Olympics are a wonderful program that gives an opportunity to shine to people with disabilities from around the world."

Obama issued his apology to Special Olympics Chairman Timothy Shriver, the brother of Maria Shriver. Timothy Shriver said Obama "was sincere and heartfelt" in his apology, but added, "Words hurt and words matter."

Shriver, noting that Special Olympics operates more than 30,000 events a year in more than 180 countries, said Obama's comments provided "a teachable moment for our country."

In a statement, Maria Shriver said her mother had dedicated her life "to fighting stereotypes and ridicule for this community, and there is still much work to be done."

"The president's apology for his comments and his commitment to bringing the Special Olympics to the White House are important first steps in shedding light on this important issue," she said. "Oftentimes we don't realize that when we laugh at comments like this it hurts millions of people throughout the world. People with special needs are great athletes and productive citizens, and I look forward to working with the president to knock down myths and stereotypes about this community."

Texas Voter ID Bill

AUSTIN — Texas voters would have to offer photographic or other evidence of their identity at the polls under a bill that tentatively passed the Senate on Thursday on a party-line vote.

Nineteen Republicans supported it and 12 Democrats were opposed. The vote came after weeks of partisan bickering and an all-night hearing last week.

Final passage on Wednesday would send the bill to the House, where it is likely to cause similar tensions in a chamber split with 76 Republicans and 72 Democrats.

“The goal is to make sure that every person arriving at a polling site is the same one who is named on that voting list,” said Sen. Troy Fraser, the Horseshoe Bay Republican who authored the bill.

Voters would have to produce a driver’s license or other government-issued ID with their photo under the provisions the bill. However, they could bypass the photo ID requirement by showing two alternative forms of ID such as a utility bill, library card or birth certificate.

“They’re still going to be able to go vote without producing a photo,” Fraser said.

Those unable to produce required documents would be allowed to cast a provisional ballot that would be held separately until the voter’s identity could be verified.

Under current law, voters only have to show their voter registration cards.

Republicans said the bill is a needed step toward reducing voter fraud. Democrats argued that there is no evidence that the voter impersonation targeted by the bill actually exists.

“Voter impersonation hasn’t had any impact on any election at any time in this big state,” said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin.

Sen. Tommy Williams, R-The Woodlands, discussed allegations of voter impersonation in the Progreso school district board election last May. He read from affidavits he obtained from the Texas Attorney General’s Office, including one from a man who said he was paid $10 to vote for certain candidates using someone else’s voter registration card.

“We have a duty to protect the integrity and legitimacy of the electoral process,” Williams said.

Senators also disagreed about the likely impact of the bill.

The bill could keep 3 percent to 4 percent of eligible voters from participating in the next general election, said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. Fraser, however, noted that voter turnout grew last year in Indiana and Georgia, two states that require photo identification.

Haiku of the Day

Get your shillelaghs

You don't have to post next week

Enjoy your Spring Break

Japan Threatens N. Korea

Japan today threatened to shoot down a satellite that North Korea plans to launch early next month if it shows any signs of striking its territory.

Tokyo's warning that it would deploy its multibillion-dollar missile defence system raised tensions in the region after North Korea said that it had identified a potential "danger area" near Japanese territory along the rocket's flight path.

The regime told the International Maritime Organisation that the missile would be launched during daylight between 4 and 8 April, and that its boosters would fall into the Sea of Japan – about 75 miles (120km) from Japan's north-west coast – and the Pacific Ocean.

Officials in Tokyo said they reserved the right to destroy any threatening object in mid-flight, despite North Korean warnings that it would consider such a move an act of war.

"Under our law, we can intercept any object if it is falling towards Japan, including any attacks on Japan, for our security," Takeo Kawamura, the chief cabinet secretary, told reporters.

Despite repeated assurances from Pyongyang that the rocket is a vital part of North Korea's space programme, other countries in the region suspect the hardware is a Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.

South Korean intelligence has reported a build-up of activity in recent days near the missile's launch pad at Musudan-ri base on its neighbour's north-east coast.

Any missile launch, even one intended to put a satellite into orbit, would represent a snub to the US administration, which has repeatedly invited the communist state to return to negotiations over its nuclear weapons programme.

Last month the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, urged the north to cancel the launch, which US officials say would be in violation of a 2006 UN security council resolution.

The South Korean foreign ministry said in a statement: "If North Korea goes ahead with the launch, we believe there will be discussions and a response by the security council on the violation of the resolution."

The UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, said a missile or satellite launch would "threaten the peace and stability in the region."

After Japan's transport ministry ordered airlines and shipping companies operating in the area to take precautionary measures, Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways said they would alter flight paths on several European and other routes.

Speculation has been mounting for weeks that North Korea was about to put its hitherto unreliable missile technology to the test. The regime suffered a setback in 2006 when a Taepodong-2 missile – theoretically capable of reaching Alaska – blew up moments into its flight.

Japan has intensified efforts to protect itself against conventional missile attacks since 1998, when the north test-launched a long-range rocket over its territory without warning.

In response, Japan and the US have jointly developed a ballistic missile defence system that includes interceptor missiles on board ships and Patriot missiles dotted around Tokyo.

But experts believe that a rocket capable of launching a satellite into orbit may be too high to intercept.

The Glorious Leader

North Korea on Monday cut its military hotline to Seoul and put its million-man army at battle stations, ratcheting up tensions as South Korean and US troops began war games that Pyongyang warned could spark open conflict.

UN forces last week tried to counter North Korean claims that the exercises were a smokescreen for an invasion by promising to keep the hotline open, giving Pyongyang advance warning of anything that could cause a misunderstanding.


North Korea’s official KCNA news agency quoted an army spokesman as saying: “It is nonsensical to maintain the normal channels of communication when the South Korean puppets are in a frenzy about these military exercises, levelling their guns at fellow countrymen in league with foreign forces.”

Severing military communications had an immediate effect on workers trying to reach South Korea’s investment zone at Kaesong in North Korea. Some 726 South Koreans could not reach their factories in Kaesong on Monday because all crossings require clearance on the military hotline.

The communist state also warned that any attempt to shoot down a rocket it plans to launch soon would be an act of war. Pyongyang argues it is simply planning to blast a satellite into space whereas spies insist this is a ruse for testing the Taepodong-2 long-range missile, which could hit Alaska.

South Korea said it deeply regretted North Korea’s moves and sought the immediate resumption of traffic to and from Kaesong.

“As we have mentioned several times, the US-South Korean exercises are defensive in nature and are part of annual training,” said Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the unification ministry.

Even by its own standards, Pyongyang’s rhetoric has been exceptionally bellicose during recent months.

The reclusive state has torn up its non-aggression pacts with the South, vowed not to recognise a tense maritime border and last week said it could not guarantee the safety of South Korean passenger aircraft in its airspace. Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s dictator, is furious that Lee Myung-bak, South Korea’s conservative president, has not courted him in the manner of previous leftwing administrations and has made vital aid to the North contingent on progress in talks about dismantling Pyongyang’s atomic work. Although it tested its first nuclear device in 2006, most military experts do not believe Pyongyang has mastered the technology required to fit a warhead on a missile.

On the home front, Kim Jong-il was, as expected, returned to his country’s most powerful body, the Supreme People’s Assembly, with a vote of 100 per cent in Sunday’s elections. Although that result was a foregone conclusion, analysts are eager to see whether one of his sons has also gained a seat. That would be the clearest sign yet that Mr Kim is grooming a successor, following intelligence reports he suffered a stroke last year.

Haiku of the Day

A Tight Bikini
And Family Friendly Supper
Can't Wait For Palace?

And In Local News....

The location of Lubbock's last strip club dressed up for business once again, and this time clothing is required.

With new ownership and a new name, the Palace club opened its doors Friday on Avenue Q as a bikini bar where scantily clad women replaced strippers who once performed at the site.

The building's last two occupants, Baby Dolls and Players Gentleman's Club, had more than a few run-ins with city officials over alcohol and sexually oriented business permits, which led to the club's closure in 2006.

Leo Nathan, the opening manager of the new club, said work has been under

way for about a year to get the business running and keep the bar in compliance with all city regulations.

"We want to form our own personality as the Palace instead of the places that were here before," Nathan said. "We're going to be making some new history."

While the bar area will feature waitresses in "tight-fitting bikinis," Nathan said a family area will be set up in the building where customers can order food and sing karaoke away from the live entertainment.

"It's going to be more like a Hooters," he said.

Mayor Tom Martin, who opposed the location of the Players club within city limits, said he doesn't anticipate any problems with the new business, which he had not heard of until Tuesday.

Martin voiced strong opinions about sexually oriented businesses when the building's previous owners tried to purchase an alleyway adjoining their property in 2005. The request was denied by the city.

Players club eventually lost its sexually oriented business license in 2006 after it was discovered the owner had lied on the application. When a new owner leased the property in 2007, that application was turned down as well because of application issues.

Martin said he's sure the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission will keep a close eye on the club as it does any establishment that serves alcohol in Lubbock.

"As long as they're not a sexually oriented business, I don't have a problem with it," Martin said.

Speaking for the club's new ownership, GIO Leasing Investments Inc., Nathan said he hopes to drive up business at the bar within the next 60 days.

Having worked in adult entertainment in West Texas before, Nathan acknowledged it would be hard work to shake the stigma of the building's previous owners, though he's confident the community will understand the change.

"That's one thing I'm trying to do, right now, keep it until we figure out what level we need to get it at to stay copacetic with the powers that be," he said.

The Politics of Science

President Barack Obama is ending former President George W. Bush's limits on using federal dollars for embryonic stem cell research, with advisers calling the move a clear signal that science — not political ideology — will guide the administration.

Obama was to sign an executive order on stem cells and memo on science Monday in an East Room ceremony, a long-promised move that would fulfill a campaign promise. Advisers said it was part of a broader declaration on science that would guide the administration's policies on matters ranging from renewable energy to climate change.

"I would simply say this memorandum is not concerned solely — or even specifically — with stem cell research," said Harold Varmus, chairman of the White House's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology. He said it would address how the government uses science and who is advising officials across federal agencies.

Bush limited taxpayer money for embryonic stem cell research to a small number of stem cell lines that were created before Aug. 9, 2001. Many of those faced drawbacks. Hundreds more of such lines — groups of cells that can continue to propagate in lab dishes — have been created since then. Scientists say those newer lines are healthier and better suited to creating treatments for diseases, but they were largely off-limits to researchers who took federal dollars.

"We've got eight years of science to make up for," said Dr. Curt Civin, whose research allowed scientists to isolate stem cells and who now serves as the founding director of the University of Maryland Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. "Now the silly restrictions are lifted."

The proposed changes do not fund creation of new lines, nor specify which existing lines can be used. They mean that scientists, who until now have had to rely on private donations to work with these newer stem cell lines, can apply for government money for the research, just like they do for studies of gene therapy or other treatment approaches.

At the same event, the president planned to announce safeguards through the National Institutes of Health so science is protected from political interference.

"We view what happened with stem cell research in the last administration is one manifestation of failure to think carefully about how federal support of science and the use of scientific advice occurs," Varmus said.

Embryonic stem cells are master cells that can morph into any cell of the body. Scientists hope to harness them so they can create replacement tissues to treat a variety of diseases — such as new insulin-producing cells for diabetics, cells that could help those with Parkinson's disease or maybe even Alzheimer's, or new nerve connections to restore movement after spinal injury.

Bush and his supporters said they were defending human life; days-old embryos — typically from fertility-clinic leftovers otherwise destined to be thrown away — are destroyed for the stem cells.

The long-promised move will allow a rush of research aimed at one day better treating, if not curing, ailments from diabetes to paralysis — research that has drawn broad support, including from notables such as Nancy Reagan, widow of the late Republican President Ronald Reagan, and the late Christopher Reeve.

The move also will highlight divisions within the Republican Party, now in the minority and lacking votes in Congress to stop Obama.

Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 Republican in the House, said the focus should be on the economy, not on a long-simmering debate over stem cells.

"Frankly, federal funding of embryonic stem cell research can bring on embryo harvesting, perhaps even human cloning that occurs," he said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union." "We don't want that. ... And certainly that is something that we ought to be talking about, but let's take care of business first. People are out of jobs."

New Democratic Strategy?

Top Democrats believe they have struck political gold by depicting Rush Limbaugh as the new face of the Republican Party, a full-scale effort first hatched by some of the most familiar names in politics and now being guided in part from inside the White House.

The strategy took shape after Democratic strategists Stanley Greenberg and James Carville included Limbaugh’s name in an October poll and learned their longtime tormentor was deeply unpopular with many Americans, especially younger voters. Then the conservative talk-radio host emerged as an unapologetic critic of Barack Obama shortly before his inauguration, when even many Republicans were showering him with praise.

Soon it clicked: Democrats realized they could roll out a new GOP bogeyman for the post-Bush era by turning to an old one in Limbaugh, a polarizing figure since he rose to prominence in the 1990s.

Limbaugh is embracing the line of attack, suggesting a certain symbiosis between him and his political adversaries.

"The administration is enabling me,” he wrote in an e-mail to POLITICO. “They are expanding my profile, expanding my audience and expanding my influence. An ever larger number of people are now being exposed to the antidote to Obamaism: conservatism, as articulated by me. An ever larger number of people are now exposed to substantive warnings, analysis and criticism of Obama's policies and intentions, a ‘story’ I own because the [mainstream media] is largely the Obama Press Office.”

The bigger, the better, agreed Carville. “It’s great for us, great for him, great for the press,” he said of Limbaugh. “The only people he’s not good for are the actual Republicans in Congress.”

Another 1st Amendment Issue Brewing?

Can listening to sexually aggressive lyrics prompt teenagers to have sex at an earlier age?
That's the issue raised by a new study, and it could unleash a fierce debate over whether a teen's music player is potentially risky and -- if so -- what should or can be done about it.

In an unusual piece of research, investigators at the University of Pittsburgh graded the sexual aggressiveness of lyrics, using songs by popular artists on the US Billboard chart.

The lyrics were graded from the least to the most sexually degrading.

They then asked 711 students aged 15 to 16 at three local high schools about their music preferences and their sexual behaviour.

Overall, 31 percent of the teens had had intercourse.

But the rate was only 20.6 percent among those who had been least exposed to sexually degrading lyrics but 44.6 percent among those highly exposed to the most degrading lyrics.

The study's lead author, Brian Primack, said music by itself was not the direct spark for sex but helped mould perception and was thus "likely to be a factor" in sexual development.

"These lyrics frequently portray aggressive males subduing submissive females, which may lead adolescents to incorporate this 'script' for sexual experience into their world view," he told AFP.

The study took social factors, educational attainment and ethnicity into account.

"Non-degrading" lyrics described sex in a non-specific way and as a mutually consensual act, while "degrading" lyrics described sexual acts as a purely physical, graphic and dominant act.

"Lyrics describing degrading sex tend to portray sex as expected, direct and uncomplicated," said the paper, which appeared last week in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

"Such descriptions may offer scripts that adolescents feel compelled to play out, whether they are cast in the role of either the female or the male partner."

Steven Martino, author of a study published in 2000 that also made the same association between music and sexual behaviour, said the findings were a wakeup call.

"The need [is] for parents to be aware so that they can place limits and criticise and understand what their children are listening to," said Martino, a behavioural scientist in Pittsburgh with the Rand Corporation.

More than 750,000 American teenagers become pregnant each year, giving the United States one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancies in the rich world, according to figures quoted in the study. Nearly a quarter of all female teenagers in the United States have a sexually-transmitted disease.

Nearly a quarter of a century ago, lyrics by Prince on his album "Purple Rain" prompted wives of senior politicians in Washington, led by Tipper Gore, to set up the Parents Music Resource Center.

They pushed for the music industry to develop guidelines and a rating system for lyrics, similar to the ratings for movies. The system was criticised by many as unworkable and counter-productive, making it more daring for teens to buy songs they deemed taboo.

"Government needs to help parents to regulate the industry," said Helen Ward, president of the Kids First Parents Association of Canada.

Today's technology means it is "physically impossible" for parents to monitor what their children listened to or watched on their MP3, she said.

But Raymond MacDonald, a specialist in music psychology at Glasgow Caledonian University, described it as "a perennial debate that cropped up with artists like Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Sex Pistols and Elvis Presley before that."

"Do we really need a solution to the problem?", he asked.

MacDonald said that even if every generation rehashes the discussion differently, there's an important difference today: age lines have blurred and now everyone is listening to everything.

"Maybe we should do a study to see if the music has as a bad influence on grandparents," he said wryly

Court to Decide Right to DNA Evidence

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court’s conservative and liberal justices appeared divided Monday about giving convicts a constitutional right to test DNA evidence, which for 232 inmates has meant exoneration.
The issue arose in the case of William Osborne, who was convicted in a brutal attack on a prostitute in Alaska 16 years ago. He won a federal appeals court ruling granting him access to a blue condom that was used during the attack. Testing its contents would firmly establish his innocence or guilt, says Osborne, who has admitted his guilt in a bid for parole.

On the one hand, the court’s four liberal justices seemed to be in general agreement that prosecutors should open their evidence lockers when they contain genetic material that could reveal whether someone has been wrongly imprisoned. The numbers wouldn’t be very large, Justice John Paul Stevens said.

On the other hand, the four conservatives were wary of deciding to allow DNA testing so broadly that "it appears that the prisoner is gaming the system," as Justice Samuel Alito said. Convicts who pass up the chance to have genetic testing done at trial or who do not declare under oath that they are innocent could fall within Alito’s description.

In the middle, as he often is, was Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy seemed willing to accept that any right to a DNA test would have to follow a claim of innocence, made under penalty of perjury. Yet he was frustrated by the refusal of Assistant Alaska Attorney General Kenneth Rosenstein to say that Osborne could get what he wants if he swears to his innocence.

A decision is expected in the spring.