Why You Treat Me Like a Dog?: November 2005

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Monday, November 28, 2005

It seems that new information about just how conservative Judge Alito really is keeps coming out of the woodwork. We heard of his views against legal abortion in the last couple of weeks, and yesterday the L.A. Times published this op-ed piece by a UC Berkeley law school professor.

Basically, Alito is so supportive of the death penalty that he has repeatedly demonstrated a blatant willingness to disregard the due process laws guaranteed by the very Constitution he is charged to defend. Particularly appalling is the specious logic he uses in one case described where a black defendant was not tried by a "jury of his peers," but by a jury where African-American jurors were specifically and systematically excluded. This occurred in a county that had shown an earlier pattern of excluding black jurors. In his dissent he insensitively and wrongly makes an analogy to a left-handed candidate in an election as equivalent to the exclusion of black jurors:

"Although only about 10% of the population is left-handed, left-handers have won five of the last six presidential elections…. But does it follow that the voters cast their ballots based on whether a candidate was right- or left-handed?" A majority of the full court disagreed with Alito, criticizing his logic for "minimiz[ing] the history of discrimination against prospective black jurors and black defendants."

While his racial insensitivity is certainly disturbing (does he really think that being left-handed is the equivalent to having black skin in America?), the op-ed piece cites other examples where Alito is clearly overzealous in his support of a death sentence. He is willing to overlook faulty jury instructions, racial discrimination, and neglected evidence of mental retardation in a defendant. The current Supreme Court has found his positions "objectively unreasonable," and yet he is President Bush's nominee to replace Justice O'Connor's important swing vote. The agenda is clear.

I am often puzzled by conservatives who are so enamored with the "culture of life" when it comes to abortion and so readily leave this culture by the wayside when it comes to the state killing people. Without getting into the arguments against the death penalty, a morality that supports life above all else (including in situations where a woman stands to be harmed by an unplanned pregnancy) and yet rushes potentially innocent convicts to the gallows lacks internal consistency and is therefore suspect as an ethical basis for law. Alito continues to show his true colors, and the very building where the Supreme Court conducts its business shudders at the possibility of his nomination being confirmed.

- posted by wanderer @ 9:15 PM 2 comments

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

On The Joy of Parenthood

Tomorrow our son will be exactly 16 weeks old. Parenthetically I always wonder when we are supposed to make the transition between referring to his age in weeks to his age in months and then of course to his age in years. Any help would be appreciated!

He has brought us great joy, as I have alluded to here. He's growing at a good pace, he's sleeping better (a little), and he's more interactive. We are having more and more "parental moments" where we witness him hitting some new developmental milestone.

This morning at 4:15 AM Bella (this blog's namesake who's mug graces the upper right hand corner of the page) decided that her dinner had completed its fantastic journey through her digestive tract and needed to be eliminated. In her characteristic way, she got up from her comfy pet bed, shook the sleep off (LOUDLY), and let it be known that she wished to be escorted to the loo (the yard).

Of course she woke yours truly up, and Bella's mom woke up too, but she also woke up the boy! Uh-oh. Now mind you that Bella's mom, who is breast feeding the boy, gets only limited sleep, so any time the boy is woken up, she is not happy as he inevitably searches for the boob, and her sleep therefore ends. The night before Bella woke us all up at 3 AM with a reverse sneezing fit and the boy had a hard time going back to sleep (we very much recommend the Miracle Blanket by the way). We were not happy with Bella then and were not happy with her again on this night.

So I took Bella out, she did her thing, and I came back to bed. The boy (I need a good blog name for him, something like Psycho Toddler) was busily enjoying the bounty only his mother could provide, and was no longer interested in sleep. We made multiple attempts at putting him back to sleep. He was fed to the point of spit-up, his diaper was changed (Pampers are better than Huggies), he was reswaddled with the Miracle Blanket, he was placed back in his bassinet, but no go. I got up, tried my time-honored (almost 16 weeks and still going strong) position over my shoulder and still, the boy was done with sleep.

At first our anger was directed at Bella for waking us all up again, but then as the boy insisted on not sleeping, and verbalized his disgust with the very idea of sleep with particularly high-pitched shreaks, we became increasingly exasperated. And then we did what all good parents eventually must do:

We Gave In.

We unswaddled the boy and brought him into bed with us. I bent my knees and positioned him so he would be comfortable leaning on them and set him down. At first, he just kind of sat there looking at us, not sure how to proceed. And then, you know what he did?

He Smiled.

And it wasn't just any smile (he's done that many times already), it had to have been the BIGGEST smile I have ever seen. Complete with a sparkle in the eyes that could only come from someone who only knows pure joy and love. And it completely melted our hearts. It was now 5:30 AM, and we were all wide awake (except Bella, who was now snoring) and the boy was so happy, and we were so happy, and it was all just wonderful. I carried that smile with me for the rest of the day, and the rest of the day just sailed on by til I got home to see him smiling for me again. I can't wait til Bella wakes him up again tonight.

We really do have so much to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving!

- posted by wanderer @ 11:11 PM 4 comments

The First Thanksgiving

It has been a long time since the 1970s when I was in elementary school studying the Thanksgiving story so I thought it would be interesting to see how it is being taught now.

Overall, I'd say that the story I was taught in my Los Angeles public elementary school was not much different than what Scholastic is peddling to teachers now. Maybe things really were good between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag (at first). Back when I as in school we called them Indians and now they are called the more accurate Native Americans. The area is referred to as Plimoth, the Wampanoag name, and we learned it (and it became known) as Plymouth. Progress, I guess. The Scholastic story ends with:

More English people arrive at Plimoth. They begin settling other areas
nearby. Sometimes the English give the Native Americans beads or tools in
exchange for the land. But the natives believe that the land belongs to everyone
and cannot be owned.
Today only a small number of Wampanoag still live in this area.

No mention is made of what happened to the rest of the Wampanoag or the other Native American tribes of New England and why only a small number of Wampanoag still live there. I guess its up to the teachers to fill in the blanks.

We have much to be thankful for on Thanksgiving and its a wonderful holiday, but there are others out there who probably have a different take on the holiday, and they should be remembered as well.

A Happy and Peaceful Thanksgiving to All!

- posted by wanderer @ 7:24 PM 0 comments

Sunday, November 20, 2005

Big News In Israel

Israel's Sharon due to see president for election - Yahoo! News

First Peres is ousted from the leadership of the Labor Party and now Sharon leaves the Likud. Early elections are on the way.
The Times They Are A Changin'!

Stay Tuned!

- posted by wanderer @ 9:47 PM 1 comments

New Fonts

I think the page looks nicer and clearer now - what do you think?

- posted by wanderer @ 9:27 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Should I Eat It?

One of my patients, a very sweet older guy with terrible heart failure, was ecstatic because we were able to get him medically tuned up enough for him to go home and visit the old country, where his brother was ill. He just got back, and to express his gratitude brought me a gift:

Aside from the fact that I was touched he got me a gift, I also got a kick out of the fact that he got his cardiologist a heart-shaped collection of pistachios, almonds, cashews and assorted other nuts. Here's a blow up of the label from the upper left hand corner:

Look where they're from - should I eat them?!?!?!

- posted by wanderer @ 6:50 PM 8 comments

Thursday, November 10, 2005

'Intelligent-design' school board ousted in Dover, PA

It amazes me that people are still debating this issue. "Intelligent-design" is but a thin veil hiding Creationism, which no one disputes is a matter of faith and religion. There is no room for the teaching of Creationism in schools funded by the government. With all its flaws, natural selection continues to be the best scientific explanation for the origin of life on earth, and is the only theory that stands up to any empiric testing. This cannot be said of intelligent-design, which relies on faith rather than science. It is OK to be awed by the complexity of the universe, but it is not necessary to invoke a higher being to explain it.

There is an excellent discussion reprinted from Natural History magazine here, which does a good job of dispelling the intelligent-design pseudoscience.

I continue to be mystified by the resurgence of this religious rhetoric on the American political scene. We are quick to decry the rise of Islamic fundamentalism, and yet the religious right in the United States, who Bush describes as his base, continue to try and push the country back a century. These attempts will undoubtedly continue and may eventually enjoy greater success, particularly as the Senate begins the debate over the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.

In the meantime, we welcome the new school board of Dover, PA and hope the ouster of the previous board is a harbinger of good things to come elsewhere.

- posted by wanderer @ 6:26 PM 4 comments

And as an added bonus...

Televangelist Robertson warns town of God's wrath

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Conservative Christian televangelist Pat Robertson told
citizens of a Pennsylvania town that they had rejected God by voting their
school board out of office for supporting "intelligent design" and warned them
on Thursday not to be surprised if disaster struck.

Just what they were afraid would happen!

I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: if there is a
disaster in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,"
Robertson said on his daily television show broadcast from Virginia, "The 700
Club."

Oh boy...

The Dover case sparked a trial in federal court that gained
nationwide attention after the school board was sued by parents backed by the
American Civil Liberties Union. The board ordered schools to read students a
short statement in biology classes informing them that the theory of evolution
is not established fact and that gaps exist in it. The statement mentioned
intelligent design as an alternate theory and recommended students read a book
that explained the theory further. A decision in the case is expected before the
end of the year.

That's why judges like Alito worry me.

In 1998, Robertson warned the city of Orlando, Florida that it risked
hurricanes, earthquakes and terrorist bombs after it allowed homosexual
organizations to put up rainbow flags in support of sexual diversity.

So is that why there have been all those hurricanes in Florida?

- posted by wanderer @ 6:18 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 07, 2005

Hassidic Reggae

This guy Matisyahu is for real, has a record contract with SonyMusic and apparently causing some controversy within Chabad but overall I think he's really cool:

http://www.ormusic.com/ecard/matisyahu/

Here are the lyrics:
http://www.hasidicreggae.com/index.php?section=article&id=8

- posted by wanderer @ 10:11 PM 1 comments

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Oil Execs to Be Asked to Justify Profits

I find it unbelievable that people at the grassroots level aren't raising hell about this.

Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company, announced earnings for
the third quarter of $9.9 billion, on revenue of $100 billion. Royal Dutch Shell said it had
profits of $9 billion, while ConocoPhillips earned $3.8 billion, nearly double profits a year
earlier.

As we all pay nearly $3/gallon, poised to begin the winter heating season with the highest oil prices ever recorded in the United States, Exxon, Shell and Conoco rake in record profits. It remains to be seen at the November 9th Senate hearing how their executives can justify this.

"Consumers are increasingly feeling that they are being taken for a ride," Sen. Larry
Craig, R-Idaho, said at a hearing last week.

I have heard rumblings about taxing the oil companies profits and about a potential federal energy price gouging law. The oil companies say they plan on investing their profits in infrastructure. As if building more refineries or drilling new wells will somehow lower consumer prices? Consumer prices will only be lowered if the oil companies lower their wholesale prices. That would mean less profit for them, of course.

Either way, for the foreseeable future, prices will remain high, and even if the oil companies are taxed consumers will still have to foot the bill. A grassroots boycott of these giant corporations could be considered and possibly have some positive effects, but would have such a negative impact on our collective lifestyles that it would be a very hard sell to the public. We are so dependent on the oil companies, and I unfortunately feel we will continue to be held hostage by them unless Washington takes an aggressive stance against their pricing practices. With Bush and his Texas buddies in office, I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, I'm driving my 1.8L Passat and only filling the tank every couple of weeks...

Makes you want to take more drastic measures, like my friend at Get Off Oil.

- posted by wanderer @ 8:14 PM 1 comments

Wednesday, November 02, 2005

So I'm Trying to Understand What's Going On In Washington

Let's take it step by step:

1) Bush Administration sells the world on War in Iraq based on supposed weapons of mass destruction, Iraqi connection to Al Qaeda and 9/11.

2) No WMDs found in Iraq.

3) Joseph Wilson, charged with investigating the WMD issue, accuses the Bush Administration of twisting intelligence to justify the war.

4) Wilson's wife Valerie Plame is "outed" as a CIA operative to the press. (A criminal offense)

5) Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff Scooter Libby is indicted by special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald for committing the offense of outing Plame, and then making matters worse by purjuring himself during the investigation. Libby subsequently resigns.

6) A cloud of suspicion still circulates around top White House Advisor Karl Rove.

So what's it all mean? Breaking it down on several levels, the obvious first issue is that the Vice President's Chief of Staff broke the law, and in the time-honored Washington tradition made it worse by lying about it. OK - so he should lose his job, be indicted and go to jail if found guilty.

But what's more disturbing is how it all relates to the Bush Administration's attempts at covering themselves for the lies they told getting us to war. Clearly they were unhappy with Wilson's report and felt the need to retaliate, but it seems almost infantile and playgroundish to out Wilson's wife as a CIA agent. What did they hope to achieve by doing that? Is Ms. Plame's life now in danger because she works for the CIA and now will be hurt by opposing spies? (Is my life in danger for wondering about it?!?!) Does she lose her job now and have to go on welfare? I don't get it. Is there more to the story?

- posted by wanderer @ 4:52 PM 0 comments

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