The State of our Unions

Murphy's Law dictates that when a big news story comes out, especially one that I have personally been writing about for the past few weeks, I will inevitably be busy and unable to write about it when it breaks. The story I'm talking about in this case is President Bush's call for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages, which he announced on Tuesday. Seen as a move to rally the Christian conservative base of the GOP in what could be a tight upcoming election, it has not been well received with everyone, including some members of his own party. This announcement was condemned by the remaining candidates in the Democratic primary, although neither came out to actually support same-sex marriage, rather believing that it is an issue best left up for individual states to decide what is appropriate.

In other positive developments for the Christian right, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ came out yesterday to 4 500 screens across America and very mixed reviews. Surveying the responses on Rottentomatoes, where it recieved a 'rotten' rating, it seemed to be one of those movies that you either loved or hated. There were some people who decided that their dislike of the movie (or perhaps just the concept) was great enough move them to protest the opening at major theaters, including some Jewish groups alarmed at the film's ahistorical portrayal of the relationship between the Jews and the Romans that might lead to increased anti-Semitism.

Former British cabinet minister Clare Short has come out to claim that British agents spied on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in the months before the war on Iraq. A UN spokesperson stated that they were not surprised by the allegations, but reminded the British government that such actions were illegal under international law.

Detainees at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba are finally being charged with crimes and being repatriated with their home countries if they originated from Europe. This good news was tempered by an announcement from the Pentagon that they will reserve the right to hold detainees even if they are found not guilty by a military tribunal. Clearly this is a human rights issue that needs to be addressed on an international level.

Those are the major stories, but I found many others that may be of interest:
- A response to a previous story I covered about how giving to charity and other public displays of benevolence are self-serving.
- A story by the Washington Post about how frequently White House economic projections are wrong.
- A report by New York's Council on Foreign Relations advises the US military to increase their stock of non-lethal arms for post-wartime use.
- A US State Department report calls Indian democracy 'durable yet flawed.'
- German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder is making his first visit to Washington in two years after a falling out between the two countries over the war in Iraq.
- Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial has been cut short due to an illness he has developed and the upcoming retirement of the presiding judge.
- British Prime Minister Tony Blair is setting up an Africa commission to explore the continent's major problems.
- Germany is exploring the idea of instituting a minimum wage. I was somewhat shocked to learn that they don't have one already.
- In Northern Ireland, Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble has threatened to pull out of the Good Friday accord if there was no action taken against an alleged IRA kidnapping in Belfast last week.
- 30 of the governing Liberal Party's MPs voted for a Bloc Quebecois motion demanding that Canada not participate in any type of missile defense program with the United States.
- Muayyed Nureddin, a Canadian citizen who was deported to Syria by the US and tortured there has detailed the events that he experienced while in detention.
- In a clear demonstration of the effects of uneven economic development, the gap between the rich and the poor in China has escalated to be one of the largest in the world.
- Archeologists have discovered evidence that ancient Americans were a seafaring people as long as 8 000 years ago, giving credence to the theory that they arrived to the continent by boat.
- The Economist summarizes the recent Iranian election.
- Scientists at Germany's Max Planck Institute have subdivided time into the smallest interval on record - one ten million billionth of a second.
- The US has critisized recent Israeli actions against Palestinian banks, claiming that it could destabilize the Palestinian financial system.
- North Korea has put an offer on the table to halt its nuclear activities for 'corresponding measures' by the United States.
- The United Nations has issued a report calling for Iraqi elections to take place by the end of the year.
- An editorial in the Jerusalem Post claims that the ICJ doesn't take Israeli human rights into consideration.
- A European space probe will be launched to study a comet up close.
- The Union for Concerned Scientists has issued a warning about the possible health hazards of genetic contamination caused by the accidental cross-breeding of GM crops with native species.
- The University College London has cast some doubt as to whether the much maligned free radicals actually lead to the formation of cancer cells and other problems.
- Kurdish activists have collected 1.7 million signatures calling on the creation of a referendum for the formation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq. As if the US doesn't have enough problems in stabilizing the country already.