Short Takes: News From All Over: February 17, 2005

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Wrong Place, Wrong Time
By Jordan Smith, Austin Chronicle
Among the host of legal tricks Texas prosecutors will use to zealously pursue capital cases is something called the 'law of parties.' The loosely applied statute allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty against accomplices who should have 'anticipated' that their crimes could lead to murder. It landed Kenneth Foster, who labored under the false impression that he was just the wheel man in a few robberies, on death row. -- Hannah Lobel
http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2005-02-11/pols_feature.html

The Real Agenda
By Staff, Battleboro Reformer
Privatizing Social Security would push Bush's 'Ownership Society' initiative. It would also allow Republicans to characterize any subsequent attempts on the part of Democrats to rein in corporate America -- via environmental regulations, labor laws, or taxes -- as an assault on people's retirement funds. -- Hannah Lobel
http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~2691835,00.html

A Genius Explains
By Staff, The Guardian
Sure, Daniel Tammet can calculate pi to 22,514 decimal places in record time. But for this mathematical savant, that's just run-of-the-mill stuff. More fascinating is what his mind is doing while he calculates complex arithmetic, a process he says is not conscious but more like a story unfolding behind his eyes. Each number Tammet sees comes to him in the form of an image, color, texture, or sound. A kind of mathematical poet, he describes math as mental imagery rather than a thinking task. This development sheds some much-needed light on the mysteries surrounding autism and, for some of us, the elusive discipline of math. -- Marca Bradt
http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,,1409903,00.html

Uncle Sam Wants You!
By Am Johal, Worldpress.org
Given that US troops will no doubt be needed in Iraq for years to come, it's no wonder the Bush Administration, nervous about the political implications of a draft, is working overtime to come up with alternative forms of recruitment. The ubiquitous uses of patriotic propaganda include Hollywood films, TV shows, video games, Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, federally mandated acts requiring student contact info, and signing bonuses. With 1,000 new military recruiters coming on board this year, don't be surprised to see enlistment documents at the bottom of your Cracker Jack box. -- Marca Bradt
http://www.worldpress.org/Americas/2029.cfm

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