Shoot Me Now: “Health Care” in the new millenium
[A medical episode, which started as an eye emergency, and taught me more about getting the treatment than I wanted to know.] The trouble started innocently enough. I had something in my eye, so I...
View ArticleThe difference between Us and Them
After terrorist bombings, it is required to stress how evil it is to target civilians, a barbarism without parallel in the modern world. Yes, it is barbaric. But does it stand alone? Dropping atomic...
View ArticleMy not-so-excellent cell phone adventure
Before somebody finds out, I’ll say it up front: I hate phones. I hate the way they ring at you and make you leap out of your seat. I hate the disembodied voices unmoored from any actual human being....
View ArticleImmigrants in these United States
I am an immigrant. I grew up bilingual. My grandmother learned English in her fifties, and always spoke with one of those formidable accents that you hear in the movies. So I can’t get too worked up...
View ArticleThe government is not just in Washington
The Cheney Administration’s policies affect all of us all the time. I know that. But it feels different when it’s personal. I lead a sheltered life, there’s no question about that. Anyone who looks at...
View ArticleMolly Ivins: Now laughing in the great beyond
I miss her. I still miss her. I didn’t know her, and yet I did. You know some of a person by her work, and what a work it was. (I don’t know how long the Alternet posts of her recent essays will stay...
View ArticleFemale Genital Mutilation
It’s gone by other names, primarily female circumscision, as if it was nothing more than the male equivalent of removing the foreskin. It’s supposedly another one of those awful things that “can’t...
View ArticleIt’s about the power, stupid
Mark Lilla, professor at Columbia University, has written a long article“The Politics of God” in the Aug. 19, 2007, NYTimes. Shorter Lilla: people who think belief and state should be separated exist,...
View ArticleBeggars the Imagination (and the Republic)
I find this unbelievable. Washington Post, Aug. 15, In High Court Filing, It’s U. S. vs. Investors. Whatever happened to Bubble Boy’s great sense of humor (or something) at the charity fundraiser,...
View ArticleProfits cost us cures
I know nobody here needs convincing that the free market doesn’t provide the best medical care for all. But it’s not just the care part that struggles. The real heart of medicine is cures and, best of...
View ArticleStem Cells and Ethics
We’ve heard it all by now. “Stem cells will cure everything.” “Stem cells kill embryos.” “Stem cells are overrated.” We hear much less about the science of it all. (Oh, no! Not science!) And that’s too...
View ArticleNukes can never be the answer
One bizarre effect of global warming is how it’s become a reason to make the problems worse. Global warming is so bad, that we have to pull out all the stops. That’s true. So far, so good. But then...
View ArticleConflating Morality and Disgust is Immoral: Haidt and the Happiness Hypothesis
Liberals, says Haidt, don’t understand morality. They think it’s only about fairness, something he thinks operates between individuals. Conservatives see the bigger picture, the social glue that makes...
View ArticleOur Government (Not) At Work
Although, really, I guess that would depend on how you define their work. Let me put it this way: the government is continuing not to protect and help the citizens who pay the government to help and...
View ArticleInsurance companies cause global warming
Seriously. I’m beginning to think they’re the source of all evil. Think about it. Insurance companies are at the heart of the US health care disaster. This post is an off-the-cuff rant, so I can’t be...
View ArticleI once bought a house
Buying a house is a hugely intimidating process. At least it was for me. It was more expensive than what I make in years — incomprehensibly more expensive than anything else in my whole world — and I...
View ArticleLarry Page wants to see your medical records
What's good for Mr. Larry is good for everybody. He's quite clear on that. Why aren't you?
View ArticleI’m a writer. Not a spy.
Sometimes I feel like the only one left who feels put off at the thought of going around and sniffing people's underwear.
View ArticleOffensive offendedness
Free speech which gives offense is a complicated subject. But, like e=mc2, the gist can be summarized. Here it is in one cartoon by Evolving Perspectives.
View ArticleAbout Ohio’s anti-choice heartbeat bill
Do you know one of the weird things about live heart cells in a petri dish? They beat.
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