Illegitimate divorce
A Spokane County judge ruled this past week that a pregnant woman could not get a divorce from her husband, who was jailed two years ago for beating her. After she’s had the baby, she can divorce, said Judge Paul Bastine, who has pitted the rights of the unborn child against the woman’s right to a divorce. Bastine told The Spokesman-Review that he is concerned the child, who does not belong to the abusive husband, would be made illegitimate. This ruling, and concerns of illegitimacy, come against the pleadings of a woman who says the marriage is preventing her from marrying the child’s biological father. The woman’s attorney, Terri Sloyer, wraps up the point succinctly: “We don’t live in 15th-century England. … This is a very dangerous precedent to set — particularly in this case, with a woman who is a victim of domestic violence.”
Bye, bye, Barry
Newspapers across the country just won’t be as funny now that syndicated humor columnist Dave Barry has taken an indefinite leave of absence. In his farewell column, which ran Sunday, Barry said he will decide sometime this year whether he will ever resume writing his weekly column. He also said he wants to focus on other projects. So while Barry’s humor will probably remain a part of the American consciousness, many newspapers will be sorely lacking for a lighter side. In a world filled with murder, mayhem and more natural disasters than you can shake a stick at, newspapers are increasingly becoming bearers of bad tidings. And as much as Dilbert and Classic Peanuts help add a lighter side to newspapers, Barry’s work was something special. With no obvious successor to Barry’s column, many newspapers may give up on humor altogether. Sad day.
Market sees cup half full
Despite a tsunami that unleashed incomprehensible devastation, a continually deteriorating situation in Iraq, historic federal deficits and a report of a possible heart attack risk from popular pain relief drugs such as Vioxx, the stock market finished the holiday season significantly up and left investors optimistic about the new year. During November and December, the Dow rose 8 percent and the NASDAQ rose 10 percent. It just goes to show that one person’s impending Apocalypse is another person’s treasure.
To torture or not to torture
The Justice Department quietly posted a new, broader official definition of torture on the department’s Web site Thursday. The action is a substantial departure from an earlier policy that was supervised and coordinated in part by White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales in August 2002. That earlier memo narrowly defined torture and authorized President Bush, in the name of national security, to potentially ignore national and international regulations.
The change, made late in the evening
and without public announcement, dismissed the 2002 definition, including the portions asserting that mistreatment could be deemed as torture only when it produced severe pain equivalent to that associated with organ failure or death.
While it is admirable that the Bush Administration has done the right thing and acknowledged that torture is an abhorrent practice, it is disturbing that such a move coincidentally came less than a week before the Senate Judiciary Committee is set to question Gonzales, a nominee for attorney general. Sadly, what should have been a compassionate and humane action has been reduced to base politics — a poor attempt to deflect criticism that Gonzales’ influence led in part to prisoner abuses in Iraq and at Guantanamo Bay.

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