CULTURAL DIVERSITY
The U.S. Congress may suffer dismal popularity ratings (less savory than head lice, according to one survey), but it’s saintly compared to India’s legislatures, which contain six accused rapists at the state level and two in the national parliament. Thirty-six local officials, as well, have been charged with sexual assault (according to India’s Association for Democratic Reforms). In fact, the association reported in December that 162 of the lower house of Parliament’s 552 members currently face criminal charges. The problem is compounded by India’s notoriously paralyzed justice system, which practically ensures that the charges will be unresolved for years, if not decades.
GOD AND SHOES
“Prophet” Cindy Jacobs said in a January Internet broadcast that God has revealed Himself to her by mysteriously removing critical shortages in her life, such as her car’s well-worn tires that just kept rolling. “I remember one time that I had a pair of shoes that I wore and wore and wore and wore and wore and it just–for years, these shoes did not wear out.” And Dublin, Ireland inventor David Bonney recently decided to change the marketing of his new shoes to “Atheist Shoes.” Two years earlier, he had started the business with the idea of selling “Christian” shoes that contained water in the soles so that wearers could walk on water.
QUESTIONABLE JUDGMENT
Four days after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., officials at Public School 79 in New York City decided it would be a good time for a full-blown lockdown drill–with no advance warning. Though P.S. 79 is a high school and not an elementary school, it’s composed of about 300 students with special needs (autism, cerebral palsy, severe emotional disorders) who, with their teachers, were startled to hear the early- morning loudspeaker blaring, “Shooter (or, possibly, “intruder”), get out, get out, lockdown.” One adult said it took her about five minutes to realize that it was only a drill. Still, said another, “It was probably the worst feeling I ever had in my life.”
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