Peter's Web Site

April 30, 2004

April 16, 2004

Stubborn Mr. Bush

The New Republic has an interesting op-ed about the recent White House press conference and how Bush's perceived stubbornness and refusal to admit error may come to haunt him:

Hunting for a glimmer of presidential introspection, Time queried, "After 9/11, what would your biggest mistake be, would you say, and what lessons have you learned from it?"

Bush, of course, did not yield. No mistakes made. No apologies offered. No failures admitted. In the defining moment of the evening, Bush's response to the question from Time, the president simply stood silent at the podium. Inside the room, it felt like time had stopped. He looked down at his notes. No help there--clearly he hadn't practiced for this question. He shifted his weight. He smirked. He shook his head. He puffed his cheeks. But nothing. Finally, he nervously blurted out, "I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn't yet." It never did.

April 13, 2004

Billboard Liberation

Technically it's vandalism, morally it's hilarious: Billboard Liberation Front.

April 02, 2004

Emergency contraceptives don't create teen nymphomaniacs

CNN has a brief story about a study which finds that teens don't go out and have rampant sex just because they have easy access to morning-after pills. This isn't really surprising, since one's desire to have intercourse is a function of more than just potential consequences - yes, even teens know this. Opponents of making contraceptives available for sexually active teens "on moral grounds" have yet another more piece of data they must refute. Those same opponents also have yet to show that banging the drum of "abstinence only" produces any results at all (with the possible exception of a large number of Catholic technical virgins).