The other night I watched MSNBC. Mike Barnicle was subbing for Chris Matthews on Hardball. He asked a question of Pat Buchanan and Lawrence O'Donnell, both of whom were raised as Catholics and are products of parochial school education. The question was, "Should Notre Dame have asked Obama, who supports abortion rights and stem cell research, to speak at this year's commencement?", which they have apparently done.
Buchanan was against it and said that, though he is a friend of the man who made the decision, he thinks the decision was a violation of that for principles for which the religious school. He kept raising the opinions of the Pope as the deciding and acceptable factor in determining the values and opinions of the speakers. Boston College is a Catholic school but I have never heard that sort of discrimination about its students or speakers. Brandeis, primarily of Jewish faith, also shows no discrimination in accepting students or choosing speakers and professors. Years ago, when I attended graduate school at Boston University, some of my classes were assigned to be held in the School of Theology. I recall a sign on a wall that said "If God had wanted you to smoke, he would have provided you with a chimney." It amused me because one could have written "God must have wanted you to smoke because he provided you with cigarettes and a nose." To this day I cannot tell you what denomination the School of Theology is at BU, though I seem to recall it to have been some Protestant denomination.
I've never been a fan of Pat Buchanan because I have found him to be too tied to his past, with rigidity. In fact, he seems totally out of touch with all the Catholics I know, most of whom believe in the right of others to abortion, believe in and practice birth control, and most believe that science should be outside church regulations.
The argument against Obama was raised and O'Donnell countered that the Pope was equally against capital punishment but GW Bush, the governor with the most executions. had been a speaker at Notre Dame. While O'Donnell was recognizing and accusing Buchanan of hypocrisy, Buchanan could not admit to it. He kept insisting that all who were put to death were GUILTY of murder. He completed misses one of the main arguments that many against capital punishment make...that too many innocent people are put to death and only later found they are victims of the judicial system, political pressure and greed, inaccuracy of witnesses, sloppy lab work or other reasons.
It seems evident that the managers of news stations do not care what positions their staff and honored guests take, just as long as it pretends to offer a fair and balanced presentation by the channel. If intelligence, knowledge and truth were important to them, they would present those rather than the rigid, bizarre, distorted thinking that many of the ones on staff and as guests present the viewers.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
THE KITCHEN DRAWER
It seems that all households have a place for all those little things for which there is no other special place. Many choose a kitchen drawer for this purpose, as did I. In mine, lovingly known as the 'junk' drawer, there are two screwdrivers (a flat head and a Phillips head), (amazingly many inanimate things get screwed frequently), a pair of pliers, and scissors. Since string is elusive when you need it, any that you get off something gets rolled up, stored along with all the cotton that comes out of pill bottles. Cotton comes in handy for adding alcohol and killing mealy bugs (providing you expect to live a long life to make the time spent worth while), used to spread oil, polish, or even to remove excess oil or polish. Address labels that come with requests for charitable contributions, which (since the invention of email and online payments), would take a lifetime to use 1/100th of what clogs the mail system. Do the marketers really believe that sending something else for the householder to throw away will produce enough guilt to get money sent?
Rubber bands, corks, a paint scraper, a roll of wrapped wire that can be cut off to tie plants, varying sizes of bottle and plastic caps (in the event that one is destroyed and I have nothing with which to cover the container it came from), get added to the instructions that come with small tools and instructions for some plants and other minor instructions I could never find, even if I remembered they were there. Add to that, several packages of seed that my mind had already turned into great flowers and herbs so I no longer needed to go to all the work of planting, watering and weeding as they were destined to live in my mind. The ground will never see them.
What started out to be a haven for all these and so many more wonderful items, soon to be life-saving and useful, has become a mass grave for odds and ends that only hit my consciousness when I open the drawer and say, "Oh, is THAT where I put that?", or, "I've got to remember where I put this next time I look for it" ...neither of which are likely to ever happen.
On the far side of the kitchen is a drawer which neatly stacks the silverware; knives are neatly fit into knife blocks, but as I open the remaining drawer, I discover that the small gadgets drawer is now looking like the junk drawer. I've failed to downsize the kitchen after I stopped cooking for 2 adults, four teen-agers, and two younger kids over 30 years ago (Parents of adolescents will understand that means I was cooking for twelve.) Over the years I have been given all kinds of small boons to the kitchen such as melon ballers (for those who don't know, the balls taste exactly the same as slices, with far less labor attached), strawberry hullers (I just use my thumbnails), five garlic presses (creatively invented to do everything to garlic but remove the odor), perogi presses (in two sizes, neither of which I ever got to use), ravioli presses (also never used because I figured making those to be almost as time consuming as gnocchi making). I've not mentioned candy thermometers (though I haven't made candy in more than 20 years), frying thermometers (though I no longer deep fry food), wooden skewers (though I no longer make shish kebob and have thrown away my gas grille and charcoal Weber because I am sensitive to nitrites).
Stores take a yearly inventory. I think I am missing some important lesson in life. My life would be less of a blivet (stuffing three pounds of excreta in a two pound bag)if I took time to rid myself of all the stuff I no longer use or need. I have almost learned that food is never wasted if I throw it down the disposal rather than stuff myself to pain. While the same holds for 'stuff', finding a resting place for my life treasures is equally difficult.
Rubber bands, corks, a paint scraper, a roll of wrapped wire that can be cut off to tie plants, varying sizes of bottle and plastic caps (in the event that one is destroyed and I have nothing with which to cover the container it came from), get added to the instructions that come with small tools and instructions for some plants and other minor instructions I could never find, even if I remembered they were there. Add to that, several packages of seed that my mind had already turned into great flowers and herbs so I no longer needed to go to all the work of planting, watering and weeding as they were destined to live in my mind. The ground will never see them.
What started out to be a haven for all these and so many more wonderful items, soon to be life-saving and useful, has become a mass grave for odds and ends that only hit my consciousness when I open the drawer and say, "Oh, is THAT where I put that?", or, "I've got to remember where I put this next time I look for it" ...neither of which are likely to ever happen.
On the far side of the kitchen is a drawer which neatly stacks the silverware; knives are neatly fit into knife blocks, but as I open the remaining drawer, I discover that the small gadgets drawer is now looking like the junk drawer. I've failed to downsize the kitchen after I stopped cooking for 2 adults, four teen-agers, and two younger kids over 30 years ago (Parents of adolescents will understand that means I was cooking for twelve.) Over the years I have been given all kinds of small boons to the kitchen such as melon ballers (for those who don't know, the balls taste exactly the same as slices, with far less labor attached), strawberry hullers (I just use my thumbnails), five garlic presses (creatively invented to do everything to garlic but remove the odor), perogi presses (in two sizes, neither of which I ever got to use), ravioli presses (also never used because I figured making those to be almost as time consuming as gnocchi making). I've not mentioned candy thermometers (though I haven't made candy in more than 20 years), frying thermometers (though I no longer deep fry food), wooden skewers (though I no longer make shish kebob and have thrown away my gas grille and charcoal Weber because I am sensitive to nitrites).
Stores take a yearly inventory. I think I am missing some important lesson in life. My life would be less of a blivet (stuffing three pounds of excreta in a two pound bag)if I took time to rid myself of all the stuff I no longer use or need. I have almost learned that food is never wasted if I throw it down the disposal rather than stuff myself to pain. While the same holds for 'stuff', finding a resting place for my life treasures is equally difficult.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
PLANNING AHEAD CHIMPANZEE STYLE?
Male chimpanzees exchange meat for sex is the headline but it is really an argument for human commitment to relationship, and responsibility on the part of the male, as well. Male chimps that are willing to share the proceeds of their hunting expeditions mate twice as often as their more selfish counterparts. "By sharing, the males increase the number of times they mate, and the females increase their intake of calories," said Dr Gomes.
"What's amazing is that if a male shares with a particular female, he doubles the number of times he copulates with her, which is likely to increase the probability of fertilising that female."
As mankind moves away from the primate origins, the primates seem to be moving forward to emulate man, with primitive tools and behaving purposefully to get what they wan, more offspring. Whoops, man went over the curve on that one and wants more sex but fewer children. While instinct still reigns to make mankind want toimpregnate every fertile female, the current laws which demand that those men remain fiscally responsible for those offspring seems to have that instinct gradually evolving to extinction.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
VERMONT TOOK ANOTHER BIG STEP
Following Massachusetts, New Jersey, Iowa, and Connecticut. Washington, DC has declared that all same-sex marriages, performed in states where they are legal, will be honored in DC. The Vermont Legislature on Tuesday, 4/7/09, overrode Gov. Jim Douglas’s veto of a bill allowing gay couples to marry, mustering one more vote than needed to preserve the measure. It also makes Vermont the first state to allow same-sex marriage through the legislature rather than the courts.
Speaking to a 'slippery-sloper', he told me that 21 year old guys would be getting married and getting marital rights. He went on to graphically and obscenely describe what he thought they would be doing and was annoyed when I asked him if their behavior would be any worse in marriage than it might be to him if they remained single. He went on to spew all the ridiculous arguments that have been floated for some time, with which the rest of us (I'm straight) have lived with resounding in our ears forever. I asked if such had happened in Massachusetts since marriage was legal for more than 5 years now. He said it had not been legalized though he has lived here a lifetime. I then gave in to my first urge, which was to stop the discussion then and there. However, this person was wanting a fight.
He said all the cliches about marriage being between a man and a woman, obviously not realizing that was so by religion's edicts and does not go back to Adam and Eve...who he may think were a married couple though he professes to be an Atheist. There was no possibility of making myself clear that I was trying to be polite in explaining I didn't wish to fight about this issue as we both were in differing positions on the subject. I was informed that he was only trying to educate me but I was unwilling to listen to the truth and facts. The conversation was ended at this point and I was left to ponder just which of us was too stupid to learn.
Many of the opponents argue on a religious basis but our land has permitted marriages to be legalized in a secular service for documentary reasons for a veryh long time. Marriages have to be recorded somewhere.
I applaud the four states and the District of Columbia for their belief that all mankind is created equal, at least in the sense they should enjoy equal human rights in the United States. Maybe one day all states will allow this equality to become law.
Speaking to a 'slippery-sloper', he told me that 21 year old guys would be getting married and getting marital rights. He went on to graphically and obscenely describe what he thought they would be doing and was annoyed when I asked him if their behavior would be any worse in marriage than it might be to him if they remained single. He went on to spew all the ridiculous arguments that have been floated for some time, with which the rest of us (I'm straight) have lived with resounding in our ears forever. I asked if such had happened in Massachusetts since marriage was legal for more than 5 years now. He said it had not been legalized though he has lived here a lifetime. I then gave in to my first urge, which was to stop the discussion then and there. However, this person was wanting a fight.
He said all the cliches about marriage being between a man and a woman, obviously not realizing that was so by religion's edicts and does not go back to Adam and Eve...who he may think were a married couple though he professes to be an Atheist. There was no possibility of making myself clear that I was trying to be polite in explaining I didn't wish to fight about this issue as we both were in differing positions on the subject. I was informed that he was only trying to educate me but I was unwilling to listen to the truth and facts. The conversation was ended at this point and I was left to ponder just which of us was too stupid to learn.
Many of the opponents argue on a religious basis but our land has permitted marriages to be legalized in a secular service for documentary reasons for a veryh long time. Marriages have to be recorded somewhere.
I applaud the four states and the District of Columbia for their belief that all mankind is created equal, at least in the sense they should enjoy equal human rights in the United States. Maybe one day all states will allow this equality to become law.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
MALE CONTRACEPTIVE COMING SOON?
Ever since the contraceptive pill for women has been on the market, men have sat back , making the assumption that unless they resorted to vasectomies, contraception was up to women . Then HIV came along making genital contact somewhat risky, since it was discovered that infection was being passed around through casual sexual contacts and from people who had transfusions with tainted blood, so that HIV was now being passed to people other than contact with gay men.
Interestingly, some men learned that the only way there could be no 'failure' of contraceptives was to have a vasectomy. This could happen only to men who were sure they wanted no , or no more, children. Some, fearful of later regret, have reversible vasectomies. Regardless of the intent of possible reversal, all reversals are difficult and may not be possible.
Finally, scientists have detected a human gene flaw which can be linked to male infertility. The study of Iranian families found mutations in the CATSPER1 gene which controls a protein determining sperm movement. "Researchers say the finding could lead to treatments for infertile men - and potentially to a new contraceptive."
If males take total control of their own sperm so that women can no longer trick them into fertilizing their egg and claim contraception failure, (thus insuring a paid-for child rearing with out the bother of living with the father or sharing responsibilities of raising the child.) No reader can be shocked to see it, still all too often, in our society.
Since I believe one can be both Pro-Life and Pro-Abortion to maintain quality of all lives, I do not think a male contraceptive will take away all spontaneous mating in humans, but it might help lower the number of unwanted pregnancies. It will surely allow both men and women to be on a more equal playing field, both more in control of their own ability to decide if they wish to take on the responsibility of parenting with that particular sexual partner. Nothing will solve all the problems but I think it would be a healthy start. It might assure that quality of life will go on beyond birth...an element that is too frequently ignored by the zealots preaching life in the embryo but care little about the children who come into the world only to die of malnutrition or disease before the first year of their life is through. That incongruity of goal makes me distrust the sanctity of the fertilized embryo when it is clear that, after birth, that embryo-now-a -human child will be sentenced to rejection, hardship, starvation, and misery.
Interestingly, some men learned that the only way there could be no 'failure' of contraceptives was to have a vasectomy. This could happen only to men who were sure they wanted no , or no more, children. Some, fearful of later regret, have reversible vasectomies. Regardless of the intent of possible reversal, all reversals are difficult and may not be possible.
Finally, scientists have detected a human gene flaw which can be linked to male infertility. The study of Iranian families found mutations in the CATSPER1 gene which controls a protein determining sperm movement. "Researchers say the finding could lead to treatments for infertile men - and potentially to a new contraceptive."
If males take total control of their own sperm so that women can no longer trick them into fertilizing their egg and claim contraception failure, (thus insuring a paid-for child rearing with out the bother of living with the father or sharing responsibilities of raising the child.) No reader can be shocked to see it, still all too often, in our society.
Since I believe one can be both Pro-Life and Pro-Abortion to maintain quality of all lives, I do not think a male contraceptive will take away all spontaneous mating in humans, but it might help lower the number of unwanted pregnancies. It will surely allow both men and women to be on a more equal playing field, both more in control of their own ability to decide if they wish to take on the responsibility of parenting with that particular sexual partner. Nothing will solve all the problems but I think it would be a healthy start. It might assure that quality of life will go on beyond birth...an element that is too frequently ignored by the zealots preaching life in the embryo but care little about the children who come into the world only to die of malnutrition or disease before the first year of their life is through. That incongruity of goal makes me distrust the sanctity of the fertilized embryo when it is clear that, after birth, that embryo-now-a -human child will be sentenced to rejection, hardship, starvation, and misery.
Monday, April 6, 2009
HOW SCRATCHING CAN STOP AN ITCH
Scratching seems to be known instinctively by some animals and humans. It is even used as a euphemism for giving in to powerful urges. Often people mistake the noun, to itch, and try to make it a substitute for to scratch, eg. "I itched myself where the mosquito bit me". It is sometimes used colloquially as, "When I get bored I really get itchy feet and want to travel."
However, for those of us who got the grammar right, we lacked the medical or physiological explanation as to why scratching gives relief. For those of you who are as hungry for reasons as I, it is explained by some newer findings. The article begins: "Scientists have shown scratching helps relieve an itch as it blocks activity in some spinal cord nerve cells that transmit the sensation to the brain." The University of Minnesota study appears in Nature Neuroscience.
There are over 1027 reasons for someone being itchy.
6 April 2009
The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Itchy rash. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.
* Hives
* Blisters - see causes of blisters
* Eczema - see causes of eczema
* Lice
* Scabies
* Insect bite
* Insect sting
* Fungal infection
* Lichen simplex
* Pityriasis rosea
* Lichen sclerosis et atrophicus
* Nodular prurigo
* Vulval itch
* Chicken pox
* Measles
* Adverse reaction to medications
* Certain medications
* See also causes of itch
* anal itch
* vulval itch
* genital itch
* more causes...»
Let's face it, we all have itches that need scratching, metaphorical or physical.
However, for those of us who got the grammar right, we lacked the medical or physiological explanation as to why scratching gives relief. For those of you who are as hungry for reasons as I, it is explained by some newer findings. The article begins: "Scientists have shown scratching helps relieve an itch as it blocks activity in some spinal cord nerve cells that transmit the sensation to the brain." The University of Minnesota study appears in Nature Neuroscience.
There are over 1027 reasons for someone being itchy.
6 April 2009
The following medical conditions are some of the possible causes of Itchy rash. There are likely to be other possible causes, so ask your doctor about your symptoms.
* Hives
* Blisters - see causes of blisters
* Eczema - see causes of eczema
* Lice
* Scabies
* Insect bite
* Insect sting
* Fungal infection
* Lichen simplex
* Pityriasis rosea
* Lichen sclerosis et atrophicus
* Nodular prurigo
* Vulval itch
* Chicken pox
* Measles
* Adverse reaction to medications
* Certain medications
* See also causes of itch
* anal itch
* vulval itch
* genital itch
* more causes...»
Let's face it, we all have itches that need scratching, metaphorical or physical.
Sunday, April 5, 2009
DOES ANYONE REALLY HAVE PRIVACY TODAY?
English Villagers Block Google Contractor From Taking Pictures for Street View
Friday, April 03, 2009 AP
April 3: Photo shows one of Google Earth�s street mapping cars. You're never far from a camera in Britain, a country that has accepted the presence of millions of surveillance cameras in its streets, shopping centers and public spaces. But for the villagers of Broughton in southern England, the roving eye of Google was one camera too far.
LONDON —AP "Britain has lots of surveillance cameras keeping watch on its streets, but for the villagers of Broughton, the roving eye of Google was one camera too far.
A gaggle of residents in the affluent hamlet in southern England formed a human chain to turn away a car shooting images for Google Street View. That's the popular service that allows Internet users to see high-quality photos of houses and streets around the world.
Broughton's resistance is the latest sign of concern about the collection of vast amounts of data from satellite photos on Google Earth to the searches performed by Internet users and the shopping habits of e-mail users.
The local police force confirms it was called to the village Wednesday by reports of a dispute between a crowd of people and a Google Street View contractor they felt was intruding on their privacy."
The question of privacy in this circumstance is rather knotty. The fact is that there is much that must be left to interpretation. Anyone can drive up a public street and take a picture. The intrusion part must come out of how the picture is used. If the pictures are used to find out shopping habits of inhabitants of that street, since shopping habits don't show on a street picture, one has to assume that more than the picture is being used. The address itself is being used by someone who was not given a signed informed consent to match statistics stolen from computers, store them anywhere unknown to the people from whom they originate. With all the technological advances in the past few years, concepts of privacy invasion have to be rethought and laws rewritten.
When our own government ignores the Constitution and laws already written, when the Internet can not easily be policed, when companies are making huge profits from selling personal information to companies, marketers and others we may not know about as average citizens, the average person has seen their privacy slowly eroded and compromised for some time now. The question as to whether we could ever get it back while there are companies who have data bases on almost everyone in the country who has ever voted, bought anything, filed for a social security card, obtained a driver's license, a professional license or certification, a diploma, a marriage license, or any of the additional vast number or bits of information easily found and stored these days.
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