The News In Brief

Published March 6, 2007

By Max C. Bookman

“The rest of the world says, ‘We understand you have an idiot for a president, but why aren’t millions of you in the streets demanding his resignation?’”

– Cindy Sheehan, antiwar activist and mother of a solider killed in Iraq. She spoke Friday at UVM to an enthusiastic audience. Sheehan gained national attention in 2005 when she camped outside of President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas for three months, demanding an answer as to why her son was killed.

“He is pro-choice, he is pro-gay marriage and antigun. That’s a tough combination in a Republican primary.”

–Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney on former NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s prospects as a candidate. Only one week earlier, Romney promised not to take part in any negative campaigning against fellow Republicans. Interesting.

“The General Assembly hereby atones for the involuntary servitude of Africans.”

–Excerpt from a recently passed Virginia senate resolution apologizing for the state’s role in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. Although many European and African nations have similarly apologized, Virginia is the first American state to do so. The institution of slavery remained a fiercely debated issue long after the Civil War, and its repercussions are still apparent in all aspects of American society.

“Incest is not socially harmful.”

–Dr. Endrick Wilhelm, the attorney for a couple in Germany suing to legalize their relationship. These two Germans, already parents of four children, are brother and sister. Patrick, the brother (or father, or whatever) has already served two years in jail for having sex with his sister, which is legal in many European nations but not in Germany.

“It’s not a political issue, it’s a moral issue.”

–Oscar winner and former Vice President Al Gore, accepting the Academy Award for his widely acclaimed documentary, “ An Inconvenient Truth.” In the film, Gore depicts how the window of opportunity for the US to take action against global warming is rapidly closing. The US currently produces one fourth of the world’s greenhouse gases.

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