Get Cynical

MEXICO CITY – Mexicans would be allowed to possess small amounts of cocaine, heroin, even ecstasy for their personal use under a bill approved by lawmakers that some worry could prove to be a lure to young Americans.

The bill now only needs President
Vicente Fox’s signature to become law and that does not appear to be an obstacle. His office said that decriminalizing drugs will free up police to focus on major dealers.

“This law gives police and prosecutors better legal tools to combat drug crimes that do so much damage to our youth and children,” said Fox’s spokesman, Ruben Aguilar.

SAN ANTONIO — A group of atheists at the University of Texas at San Antonio is putting a novel twist on the toys-for-guns programs run by many urban police departments. But instead of toys, they are handing out porn in exchange for bibles.

“We consider the bible to be a very negative force in the history of the world,” student Ryan Walker said. Walker is part of a student group that calls itself the Atheist Agenda.

Club members this week posted fliers promoting what they call the “Smut for Smut” campaign then set up a table in the student union to collect religious materials and pass out adult magazines such as Black Label and Playboy.

WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) — A U.S. Christian group has grown tired of escalating gasoline prices and is set to stage a national prayer rally to lower the numbers at the pumps.

Various Christian clergy from around the country will convene around a Washington, D.C., gas station Thursday at noon to pray. For those who can’t attend, a live Internet site and toll-free prayer line have been established.

In a release, the Pray Live group said many people are “overlooking the power of prayer when it comes to resolving this energy crisis.”

Apart from sending a message to God, the rally had a message for humanity, said Wenda Royster, the group’s founder.

“It is our hope that seeing and hearing some of the nation’s most powerful preachers gathered around a gas station and the United States capital as a backdrop, will remind everyone who is really in charge of our world — God,” Royster said.

The Chicago Tribune asked local food and wine experts what their pairing recommendations would be for snack foods like tortilla chips, popcorn, and crackers. After getting over the initial shock of not being laughed right out of the cellar, try these suggestions yourself:

• But if it’s Cheetos, go with Three Thieves Zinfandel, which comes in a jug
  
• Buttered and cheese popcorn (heated in the oven and drizzled with truffle oil) with any sort of sparkling wine, like Perrier Jouet Champagne Grand Brut
  
• Animal crackers with Oregon pinot noir
  

France launched a black and white stray tomcat of the Paris streets on October 18, 1963, on Veronique AGI sounding rocket No. 47 from the Hammaguir test range in Algeria. Was it a male named Felix. Or a female named Felicette? Whichever, it was the first cat in space as the capsule in the rocket’s nose cone separated at 120 miles altitude and descended by parachute. Electrodes in the cat’s brain transmitted neurological impulses to a ground station. The cat was recovered. Another cat flight on October 24, 1963, failed and was not recovered. Flights were directed by France’s Centre d’Enseignement et de Recherches de Medecine Aeronautique (CERMA).

The first animals intentionally sent into space were fruit flies which were sent along with corn seeds aboard a U.S.-launched V2 rocket in mid July, 1946. The purpose of the experiment was to explore the effects of radiation exposure at high altitudes. Some further V2 missions carried biological samples including moss.

Albert II in a U.S. launched V2 became the first monkey in space on June 14, 1949 (after the failure of the original Albert’s mission). Albert II died on impact after a parachute failure