Politics

If you missed the story: > Judge John G. Roberts Jr., the Supreme Court nominee, gave advice to advocates for gay rights a decade ago, helping them win a landmark 1996 ruling protecting gay men and lesbians from state-sanctioned discrimination. Link [http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/05/politics/

The ACLU is filing suit against NYC's random subway searches. > The lawsuit, to be filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, contends that the searches are "virtually certain neither to catch any person trying to carry explosives into the subway nor to deter such an effort.

. . . that's so sexually progressive? > Car manufacturers BMW, DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen; the country's fourth-largest financial institution, Commerzbank; Europe's largest chip-producer, Infineon - five of Germany's leading firms, all members of its Dax-30 blue-chip index, have become embroiled in corruption

The U.S. isn't serious yet, but if we're attacked a few more times, maybe security guards at airports will be directed to be effective, not sensitive: > British Transport Police have been targeting specific ethnic groups for "intelligence-led" stop-and-searches as

> A state university in New Jersey has reprimanded a student-employee for describing homosexuality as a "perversion" in a private e-mail that he sent a female professor, after she sent him an unsolicited announcement about a university event that promoted lesbian relationships. Link [http://www.washtimes.

Eric Scheske occasionally contributes to the Crux [http://cruxmag.typepad.com/situation_critical/] blogs. Last week, he received this polite response to his concerns about China's situation: > Oh, sir, most of China bashers have actually never been in China and spent time to experience Chinese life, just

We believe in international charity. In America, our "poor" are rich, by comparison to third world countries, so we're more inclined to ship our donations across seas. Yet, we gotta wonder: Does our money do more harm than good? We've generally resisted foreign aid

> About 30 children, some as young as 3 months old, were left without their parents after immigration agents raided a poultry plant and took the parents away to face possible deportation. > While some of the arrested workers were able to call and arrange care for their children, others

We could see how some people could take offense . . . > A city press release that promised a ''Ghetto Style Talent Show'' and ''Watermelon Eating Contest'' during a summer camp picnic in the heart of Miami's black community drew sharp outrage