Thoughtful comments …

on the runaway bride and the Albuquerque Police Department from AbqAvgJoe. Be sure to take a look.

Seal of approval

Good Housekeeping — the magazine not the behavior — made its debut 120 years ago today, May 2, 1885. It was founded in Holyoke, Massachusetts.

The Hearst Corporation purchased Good Housekeeping in 1911.

One time event

The best thing about The Time Traveler Convention - May 7, 2005, is that there will be no need to repeat it. As soon as time travel is invented (and who is to say it won’t?) everyone will be able to attend this year’s conference.

Personally, I plan to attend several times, but later when the procrastinators have their conference.

On the case

In The New Yorker Jeffrey Toobin takes a look at Martha Stewart’s probation. Did she violate by attending Time’s party? Here’s the essential facts as discussed in the article:

On April 19th, Martha Stewart attended a cocktail party and gala dinner, at the Time Warner Center, that was billed as a “celebration” of Time’s “100 Most Influential People” issue. The evening seems to have been convivial, although Jon Stewart (no relation), who performed at the party, did note, after Martha’s departure, that he had seen her “fashion a shiv out of a lamb shank.” Her attendance raised certain questions, however, because, influential or not, she remains under home confinement after her conviction, last year, for, among other things, making false statements to federal prosecutors. The terms of Stewart’s probation allow her to leave home for up to forty-eight hours a week for “employment,” medical and dental appointments, food shopping, and religious observance. The question that Stanton’s office is now investigating is whether the party constituted a genuine work obligation or mere socializing.

A thoughtful, if not particularly well articulated, question

Joel Achenbach asks how Europeans might approach settlement if it were 1492, the Americas hadn’t been “discovered,” but the Europeans had today’s sensibilities and ethical considerations.

Good discussion among the comments.

For NewMexiKen’s part, I think the question assumes that global-strategic ethics have improved over the past 500 years. That, I believe, is doubtful.

Oh, great, now all the brides will runaway here

From AP via The Santa Fe New Mexican:

ALBUQUERQUE — Georgia’s runaway bride arrived in this desert city on a Greyhound bus with nothing but the clothes on her back.

She left on a first-class airplane seat, carrying souvenirs and sporting a new wardrobe. The airfare was thanks to her family. The clothing and souvenirs were courtesy of the police and FBI agents she befriended.

Moved by the plight of Jennifer Wilbanks, authorities from several law enforcement agencies went beyond the call of duty — giving her a teddy bear, an FBI cap and polo shirt, a tote bag, meals and even a shoulder to cry on — to make her daylong stay here comfortable.