How Jesse Helms Made a Difference

If Ronald Reagan was the sunny and optimistic face of modern conservatism, the uncompromisingly defiant exemplar of it was Jesse Helms, who died yesterday at age 86.

While Reagan has undergone a revisionist makeover by many historians who now recognize his accomplishments, Helms is still the conservative liberals most love to hate. But while they still disdain his views, many liberal groups are now using their own forms of the rhetorical and campaign techniques that Helms honed to perfection.

Damned If They Do, or Don't
July 5, 2008; Page A10

The Supreme Court decision reducing the punitive award from $2.5 billion to $500 million has triggered a spate of revisits to the 1989 spillage incident, most of which focus on the environmental impact ("Common Sense on Punitive Damages¹," Information Age, June 30). Largely as a consequence of the Exxon Valdez incident, Exxon sought to avert such disasters in the future by instituting a policy prohibiting employees with a history of substance abuse from holding "safety-sensitive, little-supervised positions." Captain Joseph Hazelwood had such a history, and admitted drinking vodka before showing up for work the night of the incident, which was corroborated by a blood test.

For this new policy Exxon was sued by the federal government (Equal Opportunity Commission, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act), on the basis of discrimination against "recovering" substance abusers. Am I the only person to see irony in Exxon's being sued for taking prudent measures to avoid a recurrence of a disaster?

General Motors Corp. said it is giving a higher priority to deciding whether it will bring the next-generation Chevrolet Beat mini car -- a vehicle it sells overseas -- to the U.S. market in the 2012 timeframe.

Such a move would increase the stakes on GM's bet the U.S. market is undergoing historic change.

Saturday, July 5, 2008; C03

Betsy and Ben 4Ever

On the eve of Independence Day, historical reenactors Ralph Archbold and Linda Wilde, who portray founding father Benjamin Franklin and flag seamstress Betsy Ross, wed in a ceremony that was officiated by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, reports the Associated Press. The bride and groom, along with the wedding party, appeared in costume for the event, which took place at Independence Hall and featured musical accompaniment by the Philly Pops. The 66-year-old Archbold, who has portrayed Franklin since 1973, and Wilde, 50, met in the fall when she hired him for a friend's wedding toast.

Thomas Beatie, also known as the Pregnant Man, has finally given birth, People reports. Beatie, 34 -- who was born a woman but switched to a male identity during his 20s -- and his wife, Nancy, welcomed a daughter at an Oregon hospital on June 29. Beatie has had testosterone injections and surgery to remove his mammary glands, but kept female reproductive organs. He became pregnant through artificial insemination using donor sperm, and gained national attention after he appeared on an episode of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" in April. "The only thing different about me is that I can't breast-feed my baby. But a lot of mothers don't," he told People. Beatie intends to publish a book about his experiences this fall.

AP - A vast collection of 78 rpm records — valued at $1 million, weighing 50 tons and representing more than a half-century of American music history — is being donated to Syracuse University by the estate of a prominent New York City record shop owner.

AP - WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving from celebrity to senator isn't exactly an untraveled path. But that doesn't mean comedian Al Franken, who is vying for a Senate seat in Minnesota, will coast to Capitol Hill on a wide, smooth road.

Reuters - More than just a box-office hit in China, animated Hollywood comedy "Kung Fu Panda" has led Chinese artists to find fault with their own film industry and call for fewer government controls on culture.

AP - Guest lineup for the Sunday TV news shows:

AP - TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Gov. Charlie Crist won't be sleeping alone in the governor's mansion much longer — he is engaged to a woman he met in New York City last September who quickly captured his heart.

By Joel B. Pollak
Saturday, July 5, 2008; A15

At Harvard, the star of Arabic A is a girl named Maha. Maha Muhammed Abulaal, to be precise. She's the pouty protagonist in the melodrama that runs throughout "Al-Kitaab," the standard beginning text in Arabic classes at Harvard and other American universities.

We are taught to speak our first Arabic sentences by expressing Maha's incurable angst. We learn in Chapter 1 that Maha is desperately lonely. In later chapters, we are told that she hates New York, has no boyfriend and resents her mother.