In this column I pose questions and raise issues. I don't always agree with the conclusion, implied or stated. The purpose is to put a slightly different spin on each item and to promote discussion.

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• If children have no right to their parents, why should parents have rights to their children?

• Crack a joke about Asian Americans, Newsweek grumbles it's tasteless and cites Asian-Americas who call it "offensive" and "dangerous." But do they say anything about the rampant anti-male sexism? Sure, on page 59 of the same issue: "To all the scrawny, myopic, dopey guys out there: you, too, can find that special someone."

• Republicans sell out our jobs to other nations, Democrats sell out our defense to other nations, either way, they sell us out. Maybe it's time for everybody to vote for a third party candidate - any third party candidate.

• Tail-gating is frequently more dangerous than speeding.

• If we actually respected our celebrities, we would neither mob them nor pester them, but simply appreciate and acknowledge their accomplishments.

• Many employers believe they can treat their employes with disrespect yet still expect their employes to treat their customers with respect. Attitude starts at the top.

• More people have been harmed by drug prohibition (the war on drugs) and alcohol and tobacco abuse than by illegal drug abuse.

• Drug abuse - alcohol, caffeine, cocaine, amphetamines, etc. - goes hand-in-hand with domestic violence.

• Feminists complain about women who say "I believe in equal rights for women...but I'm not a feminist." The men's movement suffers from the same kind of problem: men who say "I believe in equal rights for men...but I'm not one of those men's rights guys."

• The Boy Scouts of America believe homosexuality is not okay, and that's their business. They want to ban adults who are practicing homosexuals, that's their business, too. And if they ban boys who have sex with other boys, then as long as they also ban boys who are having sex with girls, that would be maintaining a moral standard. But to ban a boy for saying he's gay? That's not maintaining a moral standard, but being a bully. Makes me wonder, though, if the BSA bans KKK members.

• What do the young feminists in pop-feminist dominated Seattle do when America's most publicized self-proclaimed sexist man comes to town? They ask him for his autograph. (Note: If you are offended by women baring their breasts, don't click on that link.)

• When a woman accuses a man of making a sexist remark, most men will apologize; when a man accuses a woman of making a sexist remark, most women will attack.

• While shopping for vitamins I overheard the weekend manager tell a male customer "with all the things women have to put up with today, men, all the abuse, other things in our environment..." The man laughed nervously. "Excuse me," I said, "statistically men are slightly more likely to be victims of domestic violence than women." Well-indoctrinated, she didn't even blink. "What do you base that on," she demanded. Before I could refer to the growing number of surveys based on non self-selected samples, she snapped, "We were only joking." Sexist jokes in the workplace? Didn't that go out with Clarence Thomas, or are women exempt from the rule?

• The official position of the National Organization for Women seems to be that "so-called men's rights advocates" are really fatherhood groups opposed to mom and apple pie. Like Susan Faludi, they completely ignore the vast number of single, never-married, childless men who have spent decades opposing all sexism and promoting fairness and real gender equality for all.

• Ten years ago, a 386SX with 4MB of RAM running Windows 3.10 opened Word for Windows 2.0a almost instantly. Later, on my Pentium Pro 150 you could print and perform other desktop functions at the same time. Today, on my Vaio P650 with 128MB of RAM, Word 2000 takes 10-15 seconds to open, and printing anything from any application makes all desktop functions sluggish until the print completes. On my Aptiva P500 it's even worse. This is progress?

• In my experience, women in the public sector tend to be extremely sensitive to status, and conscious of class.

• The heartburn remedy industry is one of the biggest scams there is. In most cases, heartburn is not the result of too much acid, but not enough.

• Reincarnation is one of the few articles of faith which is utterly incompatible with bigotry.

• "The customer is always right" gives license to bully.

• Men who stand up to female bullies are themselves reproached as bullies.

• You can have power, passion and things until you die. All that persists is your family and community, and the values and attitudes you pass on.

• On To the Contrary the pundits asked why even conservatives are beginning to turn against Capital Punishment. They came up with every reason but the right one: appeals drive up the cost so much that it is cheaper to incarcerate somebody for life than to execute them.

• In the modern western culture, young men have few incentives to remain true to one woman, and fewer still to support or respect women in general.

• Penalties for bad behavior are worthless absent rewards for appropriate behavior.

• Pundits frequently remark the fluid nature of the modern job market but most overlook the utter lack of continuity in pension plan participation between employers...assuming they offer any pension plan at all. Yet, this lack shifts primary responsibility from disloyal employers to mostly ill-informed workers, and social security.

• Recipe for obsession: deny that which we flaunt.

• Critics of the death penalty take the disproportionate number of nonwhite death row inmates as proof of racial discrimination, but see no sexism in the disproportionate number of men on death row.

• Post-purchase dissonance - or buyer's remorse - happens when a salesperson creates the perception of a need rather than just selling what the customer wants.

• If men are incapable of knowing what women want, then who are women to say what men want?

• When men limit and devalue women, it's called sexism; when women limit and devalue men, it's called liberation.

• These days, a woman who expects her husband to support her and the family is selecting for a man with a 6-figure income.

• "Historical oppression" is often an excuse to be an oppressor.

• The Nazis practiced a policy of intervention in the affairs of other nations. Pat Buchanan opposes intervention. How does this make him a Nazi?