News bits

News bits…
AP - America Online is vowing to carry out its plans to institute fees for mass senders of e-mail, despite protests from groups representing 15 million people that claim the move will stifle communications instead of merely halting spam.
Trust AOL to do the wrong thing…will subscribers finally leave AOL after this latest idiocy?

AP - Beijing is launching a campaign to stamp out widespread public spitting in an effort to clean up its image for the 2008 Olympics.
Good idea! If only we could stamp it out here as well.

Student readiness for college-level reading is at its lowest levels in more than a decade, according to results of the 2005 ACT college entrance exam, which will be officially released today at a Capitol Hill news briefing. Only 51 percent of the 2.1 million students who took the test last year were judged ready for college-level reading.
The real question is how did they make it all of the way to college before someone noticed that they couldn’t read? (Except for Dick and Jane books)

The study by the new McCormick Tribune Freedom Museum found that 22 percent of Americans could name all five Simpson family members (Homer, Marge, Lisa, Maggie, and Bart)., compared with just one in 1,000 people who could name all five First Amendment freedoms. The five freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment are freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly and petition for redress of grievances.
Did they ask the president? And if they did, what was his score?

The global scientific body on climate change will report soon that human activities are the only explanation for global warming.
Well, it’s about time someone agreed on it. I know it’s going to be hard for Bush to accept…Maybe if Homer told him it was true?