Mark it down - The previous item was based on a study by the Economic Policy Institute, which found that part-timers, on average, get 73 percent less than full-time workers - $10.38 an hour for male part-timers, and $9.52 for women. At the bottom of the ladder, day laborers, who average $6.24 an hour - $4.99 for women, $6.96 for men.

Grim, dirty secret - Paul Carr, 30, a leading voice in demanding British action on the Gulf War Syndrome, died last month. A Desert Storm veteran, he suffered rashes, swollen joints, liver disorder, and a brain tumor. His two daughters, born since the war, have rare heart disorders.

What a nice jackal - In Northern Ireland, media classes have been organized for spokespeople for the Ulster Unionist Party and the Orange Order, running dogs for British imperialism in its ongoing war to hold back the Irish freedom movement. The classes aim to teach them to present their case in human terms, like the independence fighters do.

A splendid society - British psychiatrists note an alarming increase in the number of children, as young as eight, suffering depression and other emotional disorders. And, with no adequate support system, doctors are increasingly turning to prescription drugs. It's feared that Britain will follow the U.S. example where more than 600,000 children are taking Prozac and other antidepressants.

The school yard pushers - Eli Lilley has asked the feds to okay the sale of Prozac for children. Actually, the decade-old approval of the drug already leaves children's prescriptions to doctors' discretion. Prozac is already peddling a mint-flavored variety.

Welcoming the 21st Century - The Republican candidate for governor of Virginia won Democratic support for a proposed measure to bill prison inmates for the cost of their stay. And a Florida court upheld a sheriff's plan to charge prisoners for meals, including those being held for trial, even if found innocent. The sheriff reasons that if you're in jail, it means "a judge found there was reason to hold you."

`To the free market!' - "Russians are drinking themselves to death at a rate unparalleled anywhere in modern times. Life expectancy for men fell by 6.2 years and for women by 3.4 years between 1990 and 1994 and a major reason was heavy drinking, according to The Lancet [British medical publication]" - Associated Press.

That's odd - In Glouscester, England, Andrew Whyte, a Rastafarian, faces rape charges which he denies. Two alleged victims identified him in a police video lineup in which everyone else was wearing makeup and wigs. The cop who produced the video said he couldn't get any lineup volunteers with dreadlocks. "The situation," he explained, "is that Rastafarian-type persons do not wish to cooperate with the police."  
 
 
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