U.S. judge backs ‘don’t ask’ policy
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit Monday filed by 12 service members challenging the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.
The service members argued the policy, which prohibits the military from asking about the sexual orientation of service members and requires those who acknowledge being gay or engaging in homosexual activity to be discharged, violates their constitutional rights to privacy, free speech and equal protection under the law.
But the Bush administration argued in court documents that it “rationally furthers the government’s interest in maintaining unit cohesion, reducing sexual tensions and promoting personal privacy.”
The lawsuit was filed by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, based in Washington, D.C. Spokesman Steven Ralls said the group would likely appeal the ruling, although a final decision has not yet been made.
DETROIT
Muslim students demand reprimand
An Islamic student group at Michigan State University demanded Monday that university officials publicly reprimand a professor whose Feb. 28 e-mail called on Muslims who don’t “like the values of the West” to leave the United States.
But MSU officials said there’s little that can be done to punish Indrek Wichman, 55, a tenured professor of mechanical engineering, because his comments essentially constitute free speech. Wichman sent the message to the Muslim Students’ Association of Michigan State University while it handed out free cocoa during a public awareness event about controversial cartoons that depicted Islam’s founder as a terrorist.
“I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders,” Wichman wrote.
He went on to say: “I counsul you dissatisfied, agressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile ‘protests.’ “
KEY WEST, Fla.
Sunday fishermen catch human head
It was a gruesome discovery three South Florida men won’t soon forget.
Marcus Swinney, 56, David Marks, 49, and Lance Luvish, 59, hit the water Sunday in search of dolphin fish near Islamorada’s Alligator Reef. What they ended up finding instead was a human head.
The men spotted what looked like a lobster trap buoy in about 125 feet of water. As it bobbed, Swinney circled in their 25-foot, rented Wellcraft. But something was not quite right.
“There was a face looking right at us,” said Marks. It had a full set of teeth and about eight vertebrae below the neckline. The men radioed the Coast Guard and dialed 911.
The head is slated to be shipped to the University of Florida’s Pound Human Identification Lab today, where forensic anthropologists will try to discern more details about its origin, age and race.