right ear, The

INITIATIVE STYMIED: Massachusetts Senate President Thomas Birmingham (D.) recently used a procedural trick to kill a defense-of-marriage ballot question that had attracted 130,000 petition signatures-twice the required number. By prematurely adjourning the state's constitutional convention session, Birmingham prevented voters from even addressing the question of homosexual "marriage." In Massachusetts, ballot initiatives need the backing of 25% of the state representatives and senators to appear on the ballot. With 53 votes out of 200, the initiative would have made it to the ballot. But the motion to adjourn required only a simple majority.

HISTORY BY DONAHUE: Whatever Phil Donahue was doing in his six years away from television, critics say he certainly was not studying American history. In an interview with Katie Couric on the July 17 Today show to promote his own new primetime TV show, Donahue said of media bias, "I'm still looking for this desperately dangerous expression of liberal thought on television. It's easier to be conservative, Katie:' Insisting he has respect for the rights that the Framers outlined, Donahue tried to quote a Founding Father:"He who-he who swaps security for-or freedom for security will have neither'-James Madison." Donahue apparently meant to cite the famous adage from Benjamin Franklin: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." (Brent Bozell takes a look at Donahue, page 16.)

GREEN TOUR: The Green Anarchy The Green Anarchy

Tour, whose stated purpose is "to destroy civilization on this stolen land," plans to go to what it calls "urban hells" throughout the country this summer. The tour is an opportunity for environmental and animal rights activists and anarchists to listen to punk music and support radical and violent political ideas.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 29, 2002
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