Self Promotion
How's the Moon?
moon phases |
2006
2005
--MacBeth V.v.
“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”
/|\
I Take It the Name "Mengele" Is Verboten Here Too?
I can't read this without getting upset:
The former interrogators said the military doctors' role was to advise them and their fellow interrogators on ways of increasing psychological duress on detainees, sometimes by exploiting their fears, in the hopes of making them more cooperative and willing to provide information. In one example, interrogators were told that a detainee's medical files showed he had a severe phobia of the dark and suggested ways in which that could be manipulated to induce him to cooperate.posted by Tlachtga, 12:40 PMIn addition, the authors of an article published by The New England Journal of Medicine this week said their interviews with doctors who helped devise and supervise the interrogation regimen at Guantanamo [corrected typo--Tlachtga] showed that the program was explicitly designed to increase fear and distress among detainees as a means to obtaining intelligence.
The accounts shed light on how interrogations were conducted and raise new questions about the boundaries of medical ethics in the nation's fight against terrorism.
There's something really wrong about this:
Property can be taken for development-Supreme CourtBy a 5-4 vote, the high court upheld a ruling that New London, Connecticut, can seize the homes and businesses owned by seven families for a development project that will complement a nearby research facility by the Pfizer Inc. drug company.
Under the U.S. Constitution, governments can take private property through their so-called eminent domain powers in exchange for just compensation, but only when it is for public use.
Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the court majority that the city's proposed disposition of the property at issue qualified as a "public use" under the Constitution.
There are probably folks in New York who are still mad about Robert Moses. But forcing people to give up their homes and businesses so that Pfizer--a rather wealthy corporation--can build a new building is hardly the same thing as a "public use" issue like building a highway.
This isn't about getting rid of blight, or using the land for something everyone pretty much needs (OK, all I can think of right now are highways or railtracks, but then, I live in a relatively congested city). This is about allowing governments and large companies gobble up any land they want and justify it by claiming eminent domain.
Don't care? Just wait till it's your house they want.
posted by Tlachtga, 2:25 PMIn what is a stunningly wrong way of dealing with a problem, Gov. Romney of Massachusetts is making it illegal not to have health insurance:
Romney's plan would require all residents in Massachusetts to have some form of health insurance or agree to pay their medical bills out of their own pockets. No other state has such a requirement, and if Romney manages to make it law, it would be a compelling accomplishment he could point to if he runs for president.Currently, people without health insurance often go to hospitals and receive care they never pay for, because the hospital and the state pick up the tab. Under Romney's proposal, uninsured Massachusetts residents would be asked to enroll in a plan when they seek care.
If they refuse, the state could recoup the medical costs in several ways, Romney said yesterday: The state might cancel the personal tax exemption on their state income taxes, which is worth about $175. It could withhold some or all of their state income tax refund and deposit it in what Romney called a "personal healthcare spending account." Or, it might take money out of the person's paycheck, as it does now to collect child support.
[snip]
"It's the ultimate conservative idea, which is that people have responsibility for their own care, and they don't look to government to take of them if they can afford to take care of themselves," Romney told reporters after his speech.
Sounds good, right? Except that Romney believes he can do this without raising spending. Insurance companies aren't so sure:
But a report released separately yesterday by the Blue Cross-Blue Shield Foundation raised questions about the approach endorsed by Romney. The authors of the report said they could not put an exact price tag on Romney's proposal, but that a similar plan to cover all the uninsured would cost an additional $700 million."If you're going to provide comprehensive benefits at an affordable level, I don't believe you can do it without any new spending," said Linda J. Blumberg, an economist at the Urban Institute who coauthored the report.
It sounds all very nice--except for those who can't afford it. What do you do then? Jail people? Let them die? Social Darwinists, please sit down. The plan here seems to be:
Doesn't sound like much of a solution.
posted by Tlachtga, 11:50 AMVia >Sisyphus Shrugged,
The girl, missing for a week, had been taken by seven men who wanted to force her to marry one of them, said Sgt. Wondimu Wedajo, speaking by telephone from the provincial capital of Bita Genet, about 350 miles southwest of Addis Ababa.
She was beaten repeatedly before she was found June 9 by police and relatives on the outskirts of Bita Genet, Wondimu said. She had been guarded by the lions for about half a day, he said.
"They stood guard until we found her and then they just left her like a gift and went back into the forest," Wondimu said.
[snip]
"A young girl whimpering could be mistaken for the mewing sound from a lion cub, which in turn could explain why they didn't eat her," Williams said.
Sadly, this type of child-marriage is prevalent not only in Ethiopia and much of Africa, but even happens in America--and yeah, it's among radical Mormons.
But man, those lions kick ass. I'm gonna go home and give my cat a nice big piece of chicken and some milk. :)
My mom (a nurse) is thinking that my weight gain, depression, and constant sleepyness may be the fault of an underactive thyroid. Which, frankly, I'm hoping, since that's fairly easy to take care of--just take a pill, and my thyroid will start working normally.
Here's hoping, eh?
Sorry; when I was in Europe two weeks ago (or something like that), I caught some weird bug (still not sure how; everyone on the tour caught it) that the Austrian Ministry of Health had never seen before. While it's not life-threatening, it's does seem to take a lot out of me--I'm sleeping a lot, still have diarrhea, and occasionally don't have an appetite. So sometimes I miss work, and spend the day in bed, which has been happening lately. And sometimes I'm just so tired when I get home that I go right to bed.
Anyway, hopefully I'm back in the saddle, so to speak.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - A 12-year-old girl who was abducted and beaten by men trying to force her into a marriage was found being guarded by three lions who apparently had chased off her captors, a policeman said Tuesday.
Tuesday, June 21, 2005