Abstract

Editorials

In this article, the author focuses on several socio-political issues around the world as of January 31, 1987. On January 13, 1987 the U.S. Court upheld a California law requiring employers to give leaves to women who are physically unable to work because of pregnancy, even though temporarily disabled men are not so protected. Eight days later, the Court ruled that a cashier at a department store in Kansas City who was not reinstated after a pregnancy leave was not entitled to unemployment benefits. Those seemingly contradictory rulings stem from the judges' conviction that Congress, has forbidden discrimination against pregnant workers but has not mandated special treatment for them. Every historical change in the mode of warfare has produced a "disposal problem": what to do with troops who are no longer needed. This is one of the less apparent underlying causes of the original sponsorship of the U.S. of the contras and of the difficulties faced by Congress in attempting to stop their funding.