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News of the Week, 4/1/2005
April 1, 2005, 12:18 p.m. EST A round-up of the week's ethics-related news. Warning: may contain satire. Top Stories A fifteen-year legal battle over the life of Terri Schiavo ended Thursday, thirteen days after her feeding tube was removed under the orders of her husband. In response to Ms Schiavo's death, millions of Americans were inspired to create living wills mandating that, if they end up on life support, Congress must decide whether they live or die. (AP) A federal judge ruled that terrorism detainees at the US naval base in Guantánamo Bay must be able to challenge in court any transfers to other countries, to protect themselves from torture. (NYT) Meanwhile, new evidence uncovered by The New York Times supports the story of a Arab-Canadian man who says he was arrested by the CIA at JFK airport and forcibly taken to Syria so he could be tortured; and Human Rights Watch claimed that a Yemeni businessman is being held indefinitely at Guantánamo Bay after being abducted from the streets of Cairo. (NYT) When asked about these developments, White House spokesman Scott McClellan expressed shock and dismay, saying, "It's almost getting to be like we can't illegally torture and detain people without trial anymore." International Uganda's parliament debated a bill that would restrict polygamy, prompting hundreds of people to march in protest. The peaceful demonstration ended a few hours later, when wives number 158 through 243 pointed out to their husband that they had to get back in time for loofa night. (BBC) A Russian court convicted the director of Moscow's Andrei Sakharov Museum for inciting religious hatred with the museum's exhibit entitled "Caution! Religion." A separate ruling was expected shortly on the museum's other exhibits, "Beware Education!" and "Witness! The Horror of Exercise." (Moscow Times) A group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim clerics in Jerusalem met to organize an effort to stop a gay-pride festival planned for the city. The clerics gathered for a photo opportunity wearing matching T-shirts reading, "God says 'fuck women'!" (NYT) National The Supreme Court heard a case brought against the makers of Grokster file-sharing software by the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA claims Grokster knowingly facilitates the theft of copyrighted material. Richard G. Taranto, the lawyer arguing on behalf of Grokster, conceded that the software's users illegally share millions of songs every day, but he asked the justices to consider that most of those songs are "really, really shitty." (Wired) Deborah L. Hobbs sued the state of North Carolina after she was fired from her job at the county sheriff's office on the grounds that she lives with a man to whom she is not married. The sheriff's office defended its action, insisting Ms Hobbs was fired not just because of her cohabitation, but also because Goodie Smythe saw her fornicating with dark-winged creatures behind the granary. (Wilmington Star) Douglas Sovereign Smith Jr., the recently retired program director of the Boy Scouts of America, surrendered to authorities on child pornography charges. Speaking to the press, Mr. Smith acknowledged using child pornography but asked for the public's support, because none of the pornography "was gay or anything." (Dallas Morning News) Jeff Habay, a Pennsylvania state senator from suburban Pittsburgh, was charged with 20 criminal counts, including felonious facsimile of weapons of mass destruction, related to his accusation that a political opponent sent him an envelope filled with a suspicious white powder—an accusation the district attorney claims is false. Senator Habay insisted that the charges are politically motivated and demanded that they be dropped or he would detonate the dirty bomb in his pants. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) The Mississippi House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a bill which would permit the display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings. That bill was quickly followed by another mandating that public restrooms replace their toilet paper with the US Constitution. (Jackson Clarion-Ledger) Business Blockbuster Video settled a suit brought against it by 47 states, which alleged that the video-rental chain's "The End of Late Fees" program misled its customers, because renters actually were charged the full purchase price of any video not returned within seven days. Blockbuster agreed to issue refunds, to end the program, and also to terminate its other controversial marketing campaigns, "Free Sex for Everyone" and "We'll Give You $1000 if You Rent Taking Lives Probably." (Reuters) Obituaries Former Alabama Senator Howell Heflin, considered one of the foremost experts on ethics in the Senate, died at the age of 83. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay memorialized Senator Heflin, saying, "Today, 'the conscience of the Senate' and a tireless force for ethics in Congress has finally been wiped from the face of the Earth." (WP) Sports It was revealed that Dr. Elliot J. Pellman, the medical advisor to Major League Baseball, lied about his credentials. Dr. Pellman falsely claimed to be an associate clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and disguised the fact that he attended medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico. When presented with the inaccuracies in his résumé by The New York Times, Dr. Pellmann said, "I thank you, because these discrepancies are not important enough to be there." He then took the opportunity to clear up a couple of other minor discrepancies, noting that he is actually "not not addicted to crystal meth" and that he never sold steroids to Jose Canseco, but only prescribed them in exchange for sex. (NYT)  |