[b]Culture comment...[/b]
The Federalist alerted you two weeks ago about a questionable sculpture ostensibly intended to honor the 343 firefighters and emergency personnel murdered in the 9-11 terrorist attacks. A mock-up of the $180,000 statue, "gracing" FDNY's Brooklyn headquarters, was clearly based on a widely published inspirational photo of firemen Billy Eisengrein, George Johnson and Dan McWilliams raising the Stars and Stripes at Ground Zero the afternoon of September 11. But the all-white trio had been deemed "not good enough" because not matching a utopian balance of "diversity" mix, and had been replaced in the artwork by a fireman threesome of one black, one Hispanic, and one white. After firefighters accused the FDNY of abandoning historical accuracy for political correctness, Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta decided to rethink the plan: "'We heard the reaction of the firefighters, and we decided to take another look at it."
[b]Faith Matters...[/b]
National Public Radio merits rebuke for anti-Christian bias again this week, for another set of malicious comments about the Traditional Values Coalition, the nation's largest non-denominational church lobby. NPR's David Kestenbaum stated, "Two of the anthrax letters were sent to Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy, both Democrats. One group who had a gripe with Daschle and Leahy is the Traditional Values Coalition, which, before the attacks, had issued a press release criticizing the senators for trying to remove the phrase 'so help me God' from the oath." TVC's Andrea Lafferty replied, "They can't cite a single fact other than our press releases, and then they try to make this lame connection to the anthrax mailings. Church people may be perceived as extremists in the NPR newsroom but not in America. And NPR disconnected with America long ago."
[b]On the frontiers of science...[/b]
In breaking news on the scientific front, many months of experimentation have paid off, as scientist Catherine Verfaillie released results from studies at the University of Minnesota, demonstrating that adult stem cells, extracted from bone marrow, can transform into any type of human body tissue. "These may be the most important cells ever discovered," Family Research Council concluded. Previously only stem cells from early embryos were thought to possess this ability. (The use of adult cells would spare the lives of embryos sacrificed to harvest their stem cells.)
[b]On the frontiers of junk science...[/b]
"People tend to think of overweight and obesity as strictly a personal matter, but there is much that communities can and should do to address these problems," proclaimed outgoing Surgeon General David Satcher, noting that obesity will soon be America's #1 killer and implying that somehow, it is not a matter of personal responsibility. In other words, as The Federalist previously noted, using the same logic as the gun and tobacco lawsuits, fast food joints and confectioners will soon join the list of producers whose products spontaneously jump up and harm people. Quick, stock up on Ho Ho's and lock up your Ding Dongs -- the fat police are on the move!