Some news from around the world to make your day . . . or make you very angry, or both. First on the list is a story from the local paper that a school district is preventing students from performing an original anti-war song at a school function. You known damned well that if the kids wrote a "patriotic" song no one would be censoring it. After four long years in Iraq, a few thousand Americans dead, many more of them wounded and a majority of the population against the war, an anti-war song at school is still too controversial for some school districts in the blue state of New York.

Better news is a mistrial for the soldier who doesn't want to fight in Iraq.

A Mistrial for Lieut. Watada Time Magazine

The highly anticipated court-martial of Army Lieutenant Ehren Watada for refusing to deploy to Iraq ended in a mistrial on Wednesday, a surprising development that left military prosecutors clearly frustrated, observers stunned and defense attorneys claiming that the military had blown its only chance at a conviction.

"Our hope is that at this point the Army will realize that this case is a hopeless mess," said Eric Seitz, Watada's attorney, speaking at a press conference shortly after the mistrial was declared.

Watada, based at Fort Lewis, just south of Seattle, said he refused to go to war with his unit last June because he had come to the conclusion that the war in Iraq is illegal. In conversations with his superiors, in media interviews and at the court-martial this week he contended that his Army oath required him not to follow what he called an "illegal order" to deploy.

The war at home rages on though . . .

Records Show Extra Scrutiny of Detainees in ’04 Protests By JIM DWYER New York Times Feburary 8, 2007

When more than a thousand people were swept up in mass arrests during the 2004 Republican National Convention, defense lawyers complained in court that the protesters had to wait much longer to see a judge than those accused of far more serious crimes like robbery or assault.

Now, newly released city records not only put precise numbers to those claims, but also show the special scrutiny the New York Police Department gave to people arrested in or near the convention protests.

At the height of the mass arrests, on Aug. 31, 2004, demonstrators — and some people who said they were bystanders just swept up by the police — were held for an average of 32.7 hours before they saw a judge, according to city statistics. For people charged with crimes that the police decided were not related to the convention, the wait to see a judge was just under five hours.

Finally, the wack-jobs are making inroads . . . If you don't have kids, you can't get married.

Ballot measure would require couples to have kids By RACHEL LA CORTE Associated Press Posted February 7 2007, 11:15 AM EST

OLYMPIA, Wash. -- Proponents of same-sex marriage have introduced a ballot measure that would require heterosexual couples to have a child within three years or have their marriages annulled.

The Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance acknowledged on its Web site that the initiative was "absurd" but hoped the idea prompts "discussion about the many misguided assumptions" underlying a state Supreme Court ruling that upheld a ban on same-sex marriage.

The measure would require couples to prove they can have children to get a marriage license. Couples who do not have children within three years could have their marriages annulled.

All other marriages would be defined as "unrecognized," making those couples ineligible for marriage benefits.

The paperwork for the measure was submitted last month. Supporters must gather at least 224,800 signatures by July 6 to put it on the November ballot.

The group said the proposal was aimed at "social conservatives who have long screamed that marriage exists for the sole purpose of procreation."

Cheryl Haskins, executive director of Allies for Marriage and Children, said opponents of same-sex marriage want only to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman.