Reuters: Bush toughens Taiwan policy, vows to defend island -- "China warned the United States Wednesday its arms sales to Taiwan will cause 'devastating damage' to Sino-U.S. relations, with cooperation on non-proliferation the first casualty."

NY Times: Court allows arrest for minor violations -- "In a decision that could affect drivers and police agencies across the country, the Supreme Court ruled today that the police can handcuff and arrest people even for minor offenses, like failure to use seat belts, which are normally punished by fines." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, joined in her dissent by Justices Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer, wrote: "Giving police officers constitutional carte blanche to effect an arrest whenever there is probable cause to believe a fine-only misdemeanor has been committed is irreconcilable with the Fourth Amendment's command that seizures be reasonable." (Free registration required)

Jennifer Foote Sweeney: What if our goals are meager and strange? -- "Perfection is the new minimum in child rearing and I am the lowest common denominator."

The summer gas price spike is starting early.

Earth Day turns 31

Washington Post: Bush administration defends green record-- "On Earth Day, Bush Cabinet members defended the president's environmental policies as a measured approach that balances the need for clean air and water with demands for energy and other natural resources." Sen. Joseph Lieberman noted that the Bush administration has been influenced by right-wing interests opposed to conservation and environmental protections. Ralph Nader criticized Bush's recent pro-green concessions as nothing more than reaction to negative poll numbers.

Christian Science Monitor: Bush walks fine line on ecology-- "Polls show that a clear majority of Americans (57 percent) say environmental protection should take priority over economic growth. Before the recent economic downturn, that figure was even higher (67 percent). And Bush is hearing from moderate Republicans in Congress - who could hold the balance of power in a closely divided House and Senate - that he needs to green up his image."

James Gleick: Inescapably connected: Life in the wireless age -- A great look at pervasive (or ubiquitous) computing and the nascent wireless digital age. "With new possibilities come new anxieties. . . . One central modern fear is that as machines grow too complex to understand and repair easily, we grow helplessly reliant on them. We become their slaves. This was the main argument of Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, but that doesn't mean it is completely insane." (NY Times, free registration required)

Arianna Huffington: The drug companies' racket -- Bowing to three years of international outrage and pressure, thirty-nine drug companies have finally dropped their suit against South Africa over low-cost AIDS drugs. In the meantime, U.S. consumers are inundated with ads for new prescription drugs, many of which are not safe.

Another casualty of the insane 'war on drugs' --

AP: Drug interdiction flights suspended -- "Drug interdiction flights over Peru have been suspended, U.S. officials said, after the Peruvian air force shot down an American missionaries' plane that was mistakenly identified as the carrier of illegal drugs." A 35-year-old woman and her infant daughter were killed, apparently in a mix-up over whether a flight plan had been filed.

NY Times: U.S. identified Baptists' plane as drug carrier -- "The airplane carrying American missionaries that was shot down on Friday in Peru had been mistakenly identified [by a U.S. surveillance flight] as a carrier of contraband drugs, a State Department official said tonight." (Free registration required)

Reuters: Arctic drilling debate splits Alaska natives

BBC: Microsoft 'experiments' with XP -- "Microsoft is taking a big gamble with the next version of Windows, say analysts. . . . Some believe the changes create so many obstacles that many users will be driven to alternative operating systems, such as Linux, that give them more freedom."

Lawrence Magid: Protecting your computer from prying predators -- Turning off file sharing doesn't solve everything -- install a firewall, even if you don't have a permanent network connection and a permanent IP address. Note that some of the moderate-to-high-priced commercial firewall software is poor to useless; one of the absolute best ones offers a free version.

Newsbytes: Court ruling a boon for online anonymity -- "A federal judge ruled Thursday that an Internet service provider could not be forced to reveal names of individuals who posted anonymous messages during an online bulletin board discussion."

Guardian Unlimited: The next frontier -- The U.S. may be falling behind Britain in a vital area of medical research, that involving stem cells.

Mongolian dust storm hits US -- Check out the satellite photo.

Dan Gillmor: Michael Eisner's Misconceptions -- or Lies? -- Apparently Eisner, the Hollywood movie industry, and the music industry do not understand the difference between intellectual property and "regular" property, nor the legal concept of "fair use."

The perils-of-day-care theme surfaces again, from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD).

To which Jennifer Foote Sweeney responds: "If the care of anyone but mom really hurts kids, why don't researchers propose reform? And if it doesn't, why don't they shut up?"

Our unofficial annual virtual Spring break is over! ;-)

Maureen Dowd: The Asbestos President -- "Being witty about poisoned drinking water isn't easy. It requires a certain obtuse savoir-faire." (NY Times, free registration required)

AP: "Three fourths of Americans consider global warming to be a serious problem, according to a poll taken after the Bush administration announced it will pull out of an international agreement aimed at combating climate change."