CONTEMPORARY NONSENSE
Worcester City Hospital, a municipally-supported institution, can–
not be compelled to perform a sterilization operation requested by a
welfare mother of eight, US Senior Judge Charles E. Wyzanski Jr. ruled.
In dismissing the . . . complaint, Wyzanski wrote, in part: "What
the plantiff seems to regard as significant is that her appetite for
sexual intercourse is so fundamental and so like an appetite for food
that she is being denied equal protection if she is not permitted freely,
and without risk, to enjoy such intercourse with her husband, he not
wearing the inconvenient condom ... It does not seem to her a suf–
ficient constitutional right ... for her to be remitted to the alternative
of chastity or sexual embraces short of intercourse."
(The Boston Globe,
March 22, 1972.) Contributed by Mrs. Davis Her–
ron, Milton, Massachusetts.
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA (AP)
-A 59-year-old housewife died of a
heart attack in front of the television cameras after being told she had
won her round in a quiz show.
Maud Walker was a contestant in the quiz program "Temptation,"
being filmed yesterday at a local studio before an audience.
An
execu–
tive of the station said the program would not be shown, but "when
the relatives recover from shock, we may offer them the film of
the
program. I'm sure they would like to see how happy she was."
(Plainfield, New Jersey
Courier-News,
March 8, 1972.) Contributed
by
Thomas Edwards, Plainf.ield, New Jersey.
PARIS -
Starting April 29 the 350,000 couples who are expected
to
marry in France from then to the end of the year will receive the
be–
ginnings of a home library, courtesy of the Ministry of Education.
The gifts are the ministry's way of observing "the year of the book,"
sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization, as well as of encouraging a taste for reading in a popula–
tion not noted for it.
An aide to Oliver Guichard, the Education Minister, said:
"You
will note that each list contains some good stories that people will want
to read. We want to create a psychological shock in France." Poetry has
been omitted because of its discouraging effect.
(The New York Times,
February 27, 1972.)
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