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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• When women change the kind of men they love, men will change.

• Confronted with a discrimination suit, Microsoft adamantly insists the company has a "zero tolerance policy" toward discrimination. Meanwhile, they run sexist ads promoting MSN in which a young woman enters an internet cafes and slyly dumps hot beverages and soup onto shy men so while they rush to the restroom to get cleaned up she can use their internet connection to access her MSN account. A "zero tolerance policy"? Maybe they're using the same dictionary President Clinton did when he looked up the word "sexual."

• According to Table No. 775 of the 1999 Statistical Abstract of the United States, the purchasing power of the American dollar (indexed in 1982 dollars) decreased from $2.574 in 1970 to sixty-two cents in 1997. To put that into perspective, if you made $50,000 in 1997, that would have been about $12,100 in 1970, or $5.82 per hour. Not bad for a secretary or draftsman.

• In constant 1970 dollars, the median average (half above, half below) annual income of Americans dropped from $9500 in 1970 to $8960 in 1997.

• Isn't it interesting how many liberals share a passion with conservatives for that ultimate celebration of male violence, football.

• Liberals believe the government has the right to choose your debts, while conservatives believe the government has the right to choose your morality. As usual, to sustain a thriving and peaceable society the optimum compromise lies somewhere in between. Some, but not too much legislating morality, and some, but not too much government dipping into our pockets.

• In the January 4, 2001, issue, the LA Times reported that protecting battered women saves men's lives. This is old news to readers of The Backlash! The question we raised which still goes unanswered, however, is, if protecting battered women saves men's lives, then shouldn't we explore whether protecting battered men will save women's lives?

• The greatest triumph of the American Experiment has been its ability to provide a mechanism for assuring a relatively fair distribution of social, economic and political power. As history teaches, societies which lack such a mechanism end in revolution.

• As the power and wealth in our society grow more concentrated in the hands of a relative few, our ruling elite, who for some reason seem to think they can ignore history's lessons, strive to divert our attention elsewhere.

• Proponents of patriarchy point to the ills which have befallen society and correctly attribute many of these to pop feminist policies which have forced fathers out of the lives of their children. But does their solution - a return to patriarchy - really offer anything better? To answer that, we need look no further than the primitive societies where patriarchy is still practiced.

• Israeli and Palestinian young people should take to the streets and demand that their parents start behaving like civilized adults and stop killing one another.

• Pop feminists are terrified of what would happen to them in the event of real legal and social equality between the sexes.

• Extremists who deny the holocaust happened ask, "How do you know it really happened? Were you there, did you see it?" As well ask them, "How do you know it did not? Were you there, did you see that it did not happen?"

• If the sex-abuse trials in Wenatchee had not also targeted women, would the witch hunt have gotten the kind of publicity it did?

• In prosperous times, moral attitudes tend to relax, while in hard times moral attitudes tend to toe the line.

• Is it time to make voting mandatory?

• Are the media, special interest groups and the judiciary turning the Boy Scouts into a "hate group"?

• Ever notice that when a female commits a heinous act, everyone asks, "Why?" But when a man does the same thing everyone says, "The rotten bastard." - J.R. Malloy

• If women really want men to financially support women's pro-ball sports - like football and basketball - then dress the players in sexy uniforms.

• Were it "men first," that would be misogynistic. But as it is Women First, that makes it...?

• It's not that women have just started treating men like sex objects, but that until recently our status as success objects was more important to women than our status as sex objects. Question is, when will men begin judging women as success objects, too?

• Pundits worry teenagers don't understand STDs. My brother, sister and I didn't have that problem when we were growing up. We received a very strict course in STDs from a former Marine medic: Dad.

• Liberals love dead Indians.

• One reason there are more single women in America is because, after years of frivolous claims of sexual harassment, outrageous charges of domestic and sexual abuse in family court, and divorce courts biased against men, more American men are trusting American women less.

• I call sport utility vehicles FUVs because so many SUV drivers act that way.