Links and Minifeatures 02 16 Thursday

Environmental Republican has a good article and the correct response to Massachusetts ordering Wal-Mart to carry the morning after pill. You know, if a merchant decides not to carry something, decides to preclude the possibility that they will make money on an item, that usually means there's something about that item which is unattractive to the merchant.



I think that Wal-Mart's appropriate response should be to carry the darn thing - for five times the price of any other drugstore.

**********



AnarchAngel has a good article on the Cheney hunting accident.



**********



Elvis sighted, apprehended and arrested?



When the "Cold Fusion" thing was exposed as bad science over a decade ago, scientist started calling the occasional experiment when energy was apparently generated "Elvis sightings"



Now it appears as if someone actually has gotten cold fusion to work. Tabletop nuclear fusion device developed.



HT Forward Biased.



**********



Ogre has a long article about the ACLU targeting the Boy Scouts (and why they leave the Girl Scouts out, who share the same property, I wonder? Could it be issues of political correctness?).



I have followed the case against the Boy Scouts in Balboa Park. As a youngster, I was a scout and used those facilities. It has become painfully obvious to me that this is a crusade against the Boy Scouts. Yes, I mean that in all senses of the term. The people involved are utterly unwilling and unable to make reasonable accomodations. The various governmental entities are free to encourage voluntary associations to perform actions which are beneficial to society at large. If those organizations are guilty of excluding those who are in opposition, or those who do not or cannot abide by membership requirements from their organization, they should be permitted to do so.



Homosexuals have been on a rampage against the Boy Scouts ever since the national organization ruled out accepting homosexuals as scout leaders. Consider what would happen were a scouting leader to be guilty of the same breaches as any number of Catholic Priests? Priests are supposedly screened thoroughly, scout leaders become scout leaders by volunteering. This is a reasonable concern. Think it isn't? Tell that to any number of catholic dioceses around the globe. Like it or not, that's evidence. I know several fine men whom I would trust in that situation despite their being homosexual or bisexual. But how many men's good deeds would it take to counterbalance one man's evil one?



The Boy Scouts have determined they do not wish to undertake that risk. That is their right - their duty - to make such determinations in the best interests of the organization as a whole. I disagree with it. My wife disagrees with it. We concede it is their prerogative. Anybody who doesn't have their head super-glued inside their posterior realizes the good scouting does for the community. Having to defend against these suits does nothing to augment that.



Atheists are a weirder case. The actual scouting code does not mention religious requirement. It says "Reverent". The Oath says "For god and my country", but scouting has religious awards for just about every religion under the sun. I spent six years in scouting, and I don't remember any group prayers being said (perhaps in the religiously based troops, affiliated with a particular church or temple, it's different. Of course, back then, they were allowed to meet in schools). They did organize a yearly trip to church, but members were free not to attend (I skipped more than once, and I was a leader).



**********



Mark Steyn has a wonderful column on demographics.



**********



Jawa Report has a factual takedown of the "200,000 is a huge number" idea that the ACLU is trying to pawn off.



In very much the same vein, NRO discusses the search for these moderate muslims they keep telling us are the majority of the religion.



**********



Iraq the Model has some reporting on the jockeying to form a government. I'm not certain I know the players without a program, but it looks like normal political jockeying in a democracy to me.



**********



Jane from Armies of Liberation has a guest post over at Politburo Diktat regarding the great escape of 23 Yemeni members of al Qaeda, including some charged with the Cole bombing. If you have any willingness to learn of the subject at all, I suggest you go read it.



**********



Sauce for the Gander department: HT to LGF for a link to a MEMRI article noting that now that Iran is developing nukes, the clerics are now saying that sharia does not forbid the use of nukes.



In other words, "When they nuke us, it's satanic. When we nuke them, that is permitted"



**********



Victor Davis Hanson has an article about the effects of sexual harrassment law that should be required reading.



Those who have seen the sexual harrassment police in action know that the IRS nazis are rank amateurs by comparison.