Sidelights.

The Chicago Tribune observed that many of the people holding "African Americans for Dean" signs at a Howard Dean rally were white. California Democratic senator Barbara Boxer's re-election campaign is selling boxer shorts imprinted with her name. The Boxer boxers run $15. "Washington may not succeed in turning Iraq into a 'beacon of democracy,'" wrote Arab News columnist Fawaz Turki, "but it will succeed, after all is said and done, in turning it into a society of laws and institutions where citizens, along with high-school kids, are protected against arbitrary arrest, incarceration, torture, and execution." Battles between cigarette bootleggers in Brooklyn claimed the lives of at least three people late last year. The New York Daily News reported that as a result of "city and state taxes boosting the price of cigarettes, hundreds of streetwise hustlers are selling cheap tax-free smokes--an illegal but lucrative trade that is becoming nearly as cutthroat as dealing drugs." ... The tiny Buddhist nation of Bhutan may became the world's first smoke-free country. Smoking is already banned in 19 of Bhutan's 20 districts for religious reasons. The conviction rate for men charged with rape or sexual assault is 80 percent. The rate drops to 38 percent for professional and college athletes, according to a University of Massachusetts study. Around Christmas, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) targeted young children attending performances of "The Nutcracker." If the child's mother was wearing fur, PETA gave the child a flyer featuring a picture of a woman stabbing a bloody knife into a rabbit and the words "keep your doggie or kitty friends away from mommy--she's an animal killer." Post World War II chancellor Konrad Adenauer was voted the "best German" of all time in a poll of over 3 million Germans. Martin Luther came in second, followed by Karl Marx. German chancellor Gerhard Schroeder suggested ending the European Union's arms embargo on China while on a visit to the ...