Sunday, February 25, 2007
apropos having to share something
While looking for something else, I found this paper:
Christian Theology as Depicted in The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter Books
Right this moment, I can’t bring myself to more than skim it, but at first glance it looks like the author co-opts a few things as exclusively Christian. I don’t know if Tolkien was a devout Catholic, not that it matters in any case. Of course, I have no real objection if the myth of Middle Earth resembles the myth of Christianity—they’re both myths from my point of view. Of course, if the author is on to something, it might explain why I’m not too keen on Tolkien.
Come to think of it, I also never got what’s so great about Harry Potter, either. I thought the first volume or two were okay for kids, and then Rowling cranked up the volume and got all pretend deep. The author seems inclined to claim Rowling’s book for Christianity on the strength of good vs. evil and that old stalwart, love. Not really convincing, but at least the author didn’t join the witchcraft chorus.
One of these days I have to read this article in depth, although I doubt I’ll get more out of it.
Saturday, February 24, 2007
I just HAVE to share this.
No, I really don’t have time to write about anything else, but this gave me a giggle:
http://www.myscienceproject.org/condoms.html
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
The Authoritarians
Some university profs do publish books. Some do it online:
Bob Altemeyer: The Authoritarians
Looks like an interesting read. Now all I need to time to actually do it.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
and then there were three
German court paroles former RAF terrorist after 24 years
A German court ordered Monday that Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, one of the “second-generation” leaders of the Red Army Faction (RAF) leftist terrorist group, be paroled after 24 years in custody.
The RAF campaign of bombings, kidnappings and assassinations 30 years ago created one of Germany’s worst modern political crises.
And I still remember the times. The Wanted posters all over the place, the outrage against these whackjobs, and always the ties to Arafat and his merry men.
Conservative Germans had voiced anger in recent weeks that prosecutors were calling for her punishment to be commuted. She has never apologized for her crimes. When she leaves jail on March 27, only three other RAF figures will remain in custody.
As somebody else quoted later in the article, Germany doesn’t do political prisoners. If another killer would be released in similar circumstances, then so should she.
Fears have been voiced that she might return to her personal “war” against the state, as she did in 1977 after a five-year jail term.
During 1977 she took part in the murders of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, head of the German employers’ federation, and Siegfried Buback, federal prosecutor general. She personally shot dead Juergen Ponto, chief executive of Dresdner Bank. She was not captured until 1982.
I caught the tail end of this when I was doing military service - some of the places we guarded were considered potential “resupply” targets and we received special instruction regarding the RAF.
The state superior court in Stuttgart said Monday, “Taking public safety into account, the court has decided parole is proper.”
It added that it saw no evidence she was “still dangerous.” Her parole is not permanent, but initially lasts for five years. She will have a probation officer and must regularly report to the police.
I’m not in a position to comment on this. Perhaps they’re right, perhaps not.
The petite blonde joined the RAF at age 21: “Her life since has been only two states, in the underground or in jail,” said Wolfgang Kraushaar, a scholar who has studied the RAF. Mohnhaupt has yet to develop any adult identity separate from the RAF, he said.
I don’t know what to make of this. How does this fit with public safety concerns?
She’s not the first RAF member to be released, although all the others either expressed regret or faked it convincingly. As far as I know, they live unremarkable lives…
The RAF, made up of middle-class students and intellectuals, believed that killing top Germans would lead to a police state, which was “good” because it would persuade the working class to revolt. But West Germany kept democracy. The RAF dissolved itself in the 1990s.
The bit about the police state reminds of post-9/11 America…
(read more below the fold)
Click to read more...
those literal-minded Germans
Expatica: German tried in Philippines for stripping
A 66-year-old German man was hauled to court in the Philippines on Monday for dropping his pants at the airport after being annoyed by stringent security measures at the facility, officials said.
Airport officials filed public scandal charges against Hans Juergen Oskar von Naguschewski, who was on his way back to Frankfurt when the incident happened last Friday at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport.
Angel Atutubo, assistant general manager for security at the airpost, said von Naguschewski stripped when being told to walk through the x-ray gate twice after the machine sounded the first time he passed through.
...
Von Naguschewski said in a Manila television interview he did not understand the procedure and apologized for his behaviour.
“The man kept saying ‘take off, take off’ but the shoes were already off and the pants were alone,” he said, apparently referring to the fact that he was not wearing a belt.
“So what else would I take off,” he added.
Be careful what you ask for, eh.
Monday, February 12, 2007
Reading Dawkins
We finally got around and acquired a copy of Dawkin’s The God Delusion.
I made it as far as the preface and it’s obvious why the book makes the Religious Right froth at the mouth. I myself haven’t found anything to object to in the preface, but then he’s preaching to the choir or something.
Sunday, February 11, 2007
unhemmed as it is uneven
I was more than halfway through James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake when I decided it probably wasn’t a good book for me to be reading at the time. It’s a wonderful example of creativity with words and rhythms (set in an almost incomprehensible narrative). Full of sounds and images that are shaped by his Catholic past. One of the passages that I have marked in the book is : “haloed be her eve, her singtime sung, her rill be run, unhemmed as it is uneven.” (This is actually one of the few books that I own where I have passages marked. I rarely mark up a book at all. Even the ones that I use professionally at work.)
Click to read more...
Saturday, February 10, 2007
does the practice of medicine and religion mix?
Some doctors don’t share therapies they oppose morally
A disturbing number of U.S. doctors do not feel obligated to tell patients about medical options they oppose morally, such as abortion and teen birth control, and believe they have no duty to refer people elsewhere for such treatments, researchers say.
The survey of 1,144 doctors around the United States is the first major look at how physicians’ religious or moral beliefs might affect patients’ care.
Doctors are supposed to practice medicine and not morality, aren’t they? If doctors do not mention treatment options and/or refuse to refer patients elsewhere, I consider them unfit for practice.
The study, conducted by University of Chicago researchers, found 86 percent of those responding believe doctors are obligated to present all treatment options, and 71 percent believe they must refer patients to another doctor for treatments they oppose. Slightly more than half the rest said they had no such obligation; the others were undecided.
“That means that there are a lot of physicians out there who are not, in fact, doing the right thing,” said David Magnus, director of Stanford University’s Center for Biomedical Ethics.
It would appear so.
According to an American Medical Association policy statement, doctors can decline to give a treatment sought by an individual that is “incompatible with the physician’s personal, religious or moral beliefs.” But the physician should try to ensure the patient has “access to adequate health care.”
Now there’s a slippery slope if I ever saw one.
The survey did not examine whether these doctors act on their beliefs—that is, whether they actually withhold information or refuse to refer patients. But the researchers calculated that tens of millions of Americans might be going to such doctors.
“Conscientious objection is fine ... as long as it doesn’t conflict with the rights of the patient,” Magnus said. “You can’t abandon the patient or essentially coerce the patient by saying you won’t do the procedure or refer them to someone else.”
I have no doubt that there are doctors who withhold information or do even worse. The question is whether these are isolated cases or a systemic problem.
Female doctors were much more likely than male ones to feel obligated to refer patients for treatments they personally oppose, far less likely to present their own objections to a patient and slightly more likely to disclose all treatment options.
Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.
He said doctors must let patients explicitly know if they are opposed to particular services.
Indeed.
One big problem area, Magnus said, involves emergency room doctors and emergency contraception for rape victims. He said it is considered standard care to offer the morning-after pill, but that is not done in some Catholic hospitals, according to one small study. Ecker said doctors opposed to emergency contraception should avoid working in an ER for that reason.
We’ve had this topic before…
Curlin said that in light of the new survey findings, if a patient “anticipates wanting a controversial treatment and they don’t know already if their physician opposes it, then they should ask.”
“I hope it leads to more substantive conversations between doctors and their patients,” he said.
That’s reasonable as far as it goes. If I know about a controversial treatment, I can certainly ask pointed questions and if necessary move on to a different physician of my trust. Of course, if I don’t even know about controversial treatments, then what? GM’s family has always been hardcore about educating themselves about treatment options. Smart move and due diligence, eh. It’s too bad not everybody has the aptitude to do likewise.
almost forgot about this
This topic came up before on this site:
Texas governor orders anti-cancer vaccine for schoolgirls
Bypassing the Legislature, Republican Gov. Rick Perry signed an order Friday making Texas the first state to require that schoolgirls get vaccinated against the sexually transmitted virus that causes cervical cancer.
By issuing an executive order, Perry apparently sidesteps opposition in the legislature from conservatives and parents’ rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way parents raise their children.
I fear that such a requirement would condone closing off a vector for a nasty type of cancer.
Perry, a conservative Christian who opposes abortion and stem-cell research using embryonic cells, counts on the religious right for his political base. But he has said the cervical cancer vaccine is no different from the one that protects children against polio.
“The HPV vaccine provides us with an incredible opportunity to effectively target and prevent cervical cancer,” Perry said in announcing the order.
“If there are diseases in our society that are going to cost us large amounts of money, it just makes good economic sense, not to mention the health and well-being of these individuals to have those vaccines available,” he said.
I have no idea how the numbers crunch. I don’t really care if this vaccination is required or not, as long as it’s available. Needless to say, Perry has created quite an uproar and the cynic in me wonders who paid him off.
Merck is bankrolling efforts to pass state laws across the country mandating Gardasil for girls as young as 11 or 12. It doubled its lobbying budget in Texas and has funnelled money through Women in Government, an advocacy group made up of female state legislators around the country.
Perry has several ties to Merck and Women in Government. One of the drug company’s three lobbyists in Texas is Mike Toomey, Perry’s former chief of staff. His current chief of staff’s mother-in-law, Texas Republican state Rep. Dianne White Delisi, is a state director for Women in Government.
Perry also received $6,000 from Merck’s political action committee during his re-election campaign.
Perhaps it’s not a mystery.
Texas allows parents to opt out of inoculations by filing an affidavit objecting to the vaccine on religious or philosophical reasons. Even with such provisions, however, conservative groups say such requirements interfere with parents’ rights to make medical decisions for their children.
I call bullshit. If it’s more important that your daughters live up to your own moral standards—always assuming you actually practice what you preach—than protecting them from a certain type of cancer, then just fill out the bloody affidavit. Or do they mean they assert the right to not have to spell their priorities out?
Posted by elwedriddsche on 02/10 at 01:22 PM
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I’m running out of stuff to rent from Netflix
I’m scraping the bottom of the barrel and had a peek at Firefly, a short-lived SciFi series where SciFi meets Western meets Robin Hood. I might have made it past the first disk if it weren’t for a detail of the plot - the ship’s captain “has no place for god in his ship”, but an acquired crew member is a priest (guess what garb he wears) and chips away at the captain’s armor to do good. As GM said, this can cut both ways, but it just annoys the heck out of me.
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