THE DAILY BLADE: For The Good Of The Children?: Part II
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court put the kibosh on school diversity plans in Louisville, KY, and Seattle, WA, on the grounds that they violated constitutional guarantees of equal protection. Further, the districts "failed to show that they considered methods other than explicit racial classifications to achieve their stated goals," said Chief Justice John Roberts. The ruling can affect other race-based diversity plans in public schools nationwide.
Here’s how The Boston Globe characterized the ruling, and its possible effect on schools in the greater Boston area:
In Massachusetts, advocates fear that the ruling will also impact the Lynn public schools' longstanding plan, which won a challenge in federal court only two years ago. Others fear the decision could also harm the 32 greater Boston communities that participate in the Metco program, which buses minority students voluntarily from Boston to mostly white suburbs that boast higher test scores and college-going rates [emphasis, The Stiletto].
The High Court’s decision was meant to redress the grievous harm done to children under these forced busing plans. One KY five-year old was bused 90 minutes to school – each way. Two Seattle students were assigned to a school that required them to take three city buses, and would have meant leaving home at 5:30 am and not returning until at least 8 pm.
Subjecting children to such punishing commutes is not an acceptable means to achieve a societal end, no matter how worthy.
Yet Another Way To Create Stem Cells Without Killing Viable Embryos
Research published online by the journal Cloning and Stem Cells suggests that a woman’s unfertilized eggs can be stimulated to begin embryonic development just long enough to produce stem cells but not to create a baby. The scientists hope to be able to make transplant tissue that's genetically matched to the woman whose eggs are used, thus eliminating the risk of rejection (men would not benefit from this research). If it pans out, this new technique would be an alternative to therapeutic cloning, in which a person’s DNA is inserted into an unfertilized egg, and stem cells are extracted from the resulting embryo. Therapeutic cloning is theoretically possible, but has not yet been achieved in humans.
This new technique is one of several being pursued that does not require the destruction of human embryos, which many people – The Stiletto included – find morally repugnant.
San Francisco Bans Bottled Water
First, the Silicon Valley town of Belmont wanted to outlaw cigarette smoking in the privacy of one’s home. Now, SF mayor Gavin Newsom is forcing municipal employees to drink tap water instead of the bottled stuff. Marketing Daily reports that Newsom’s ban on bottled water at all city offices and agencies "reflects the growing sentiment of city managers and environmentalists."
Newsom justifies his outrageous trampling on individual rights and personal freedom by claiming that bottled water "is often inferior to the quality of San Francisco's pristine tap water." Jenny Powers, a spokesperson for the Natural Resources Defense Council, an advocacy group that pushes a "green" agenda, takes the same tack: "Because bottled water has not been proven to be any cleaner or safer than the average tap water, and because almost all Americans have access to safe tap water, bottled water is not the eco-friendly choice."
Maybe so. However, many people, The Stiletto being one, prefer drinking carbonated water, or water that is flavored with fruit essences, or water that is fortified with vitamins. Some people choose to drink "fancy" water, others choose to drink "eco-friendly" water. So on this issue, The Stiletto is pro-choice.
Here’s an idea: Why doesn’t SF start selling bottled water offsets to enable people to circumvent the new regulation and help the environment at the same time? The money could go to, say, companies that clean up oil slicks caused by oil tankers that run aground.
A Night On The Town (Yippee-Kayay!)
The Stiletto skipped Larry King’s interview with Paris Hilton Wednesday night, as she had far more exciting plans. As luck would have it, she didn’t miss much. In his review, New York Daily News critic Joe Dziemianowicz writes: "[T] the smart act felt like too much of a stretch. … [Paris] showed no sign of how her experiences changed her and her view of the world. In fact, she's still convinced she's the victim." Maybe her next stint in jail – look, we all know it’s just a matter of time – will wise her up (third item, The Daily Blade).
Anyway, The Stiletto’s evening began at Merchants NY, which boasts one of New York City’s few licensed cigar bars. The Heel - The Stiletto’s friend and occasional blog contributor - had brought each of us a Cohiba Siglo I Perla cigar (the real deal, from La Habana, Cuba!) to smoke. In between puffs, The Stiletto sipped a Grey Goose martini (straight up). Sa-weet!
Then, we headed a couple of blocks over to catch the new "Die Hard" flick on its opening day in general release (click here to see the trailer).
[SPOILER ALERT: Stop reading if you did not click on the link to see the trailer, have not read any reviews, and do not want any details whatsoever about the plot.]
In this fourth installment of the "Die Hard" franchise, John McClane takes on cyberterrorists who effect something called a "fire sale" that knocks out everything from traffic signals to cell phone networks. Eerily, in a case of life imitating art, a one-hour power outage in New York earlier in the day caused some of the same chaos (on a much smaller scale) depicted in the movie.
Although The Stiletto is far geekier than most women (and proud of it, too), she’s not a hardcore geek and couldn’t quite figure out why McClane didn’t just run around yanking PDAs and roll-up keyboards from USB ports (not to mention power cords from wall sockets) to stop the mayhem. Would’ve been a lot faster than the white hat hacker doing battle with the black hat hacker – though far less dramatic.
[Editorial Note: Unlike Michael Moore, The Heel had followed the rules and obtained an OFAC license, so the Cohibas we enjoyed were legal.
How about banning water, period? Go to the Snopes website and search for DHMO for material (although several years old by now) worthy of the Not-the-Sharpest-Knife section
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