Tim Johnson

I'm really disappointed in Tim Johnson. He's not even up for re-election until 2009. Does he really think a vote against Alito will damage him so much that he will be denied a chance to practice "running scared" politics for another term? Does he really think that the people of South Dakota will even remember this?

Manufacturing Runs

Another good move by Reid to stagger the announcements from the Dem Senators regarding their no votes on Alito. It creates sort of a faux momentum of opposition to the nomination. For the record, I would oppose Alito because he doesn't seem to understand that the president has no power to draft or interpret laws. That said, there wasn't much of an opposition buzz, so again, kudos to Reid for trying to create one. Sort of the political equivalent, if it works, of the "Rickey Run" in basball.

Right Click

I am staunchly pro-Mac, but I think it's time that they entered the world of the "right click." It's just too well established to be ignored by anybody. My prediction: if Mac adopts the "right click," their market share would go up 10 points in the first year. Seriously, if they didn't mind letting Intel chips power their computers, you'd think they could see to having the two button mouse that everyone on the computing earth is used to by now.

Pot Pill

Every time another piece of research like this is published, I incrementally raise the odds of the pharmaceutical industry developing a "pot pill." I don't think that would necessarily be a bad thing. Perhaps a synthesized version would be even better than the genuine article since smoke in one's lungs is generally not a health-promoting activity. Still, I think that it'd be unfortunate that a casualty of this nearly inevitable development will be the loss of the medical marijuana "beachhead" that the anti-prohibitionist forces had established. Hopefully progress on that front will be so substantial at that point that it won't matter. One can hope. Cause it'll be pretty hard to argue for granny's right to smoke grass when the doctor can just prescribe her a pill. Oh well. Big Pharma 149, The Rest Of Us 0.

Seriously, I wonder what will the commercials for the pot pill be. People running through fields and on the beach of course, but will it be interspersed with clips from Cheech and Chong movies? Snoop Dogg should definitely be asked to appear. I, for one, am looking forward to it. Still, I don't think any drug commercial can top the Levitra ad when the dude throws the football through the tire swing, grabs his wife, then backhands the ball into the shed. Ahh, metaphorical imagery.

Pet Peeve

Pet peeve of the day: department store cosmetics counter employees who wear white lab coats.

What I've Been Saying All Along

This is a direct quote from Mike Scanlon, top aide to Tom Delay.

"Simply put, we want to bring out the wackos to vote against something and make sure the rest of the public lets the whole thing slip past them. The wackos get their information form [sic] the Christian right, Christian radio, mail, the internet, and telephone trees."

First Class Stamp

So the Postal Service is raising their prices again. You'd think they would know about these things a few days before the change went into effect, though. 12 sided wife bought a hundred roll of 37 cent stamps not 3 days ago, only to find out that in less than a week they'd be out of date. One would hope that someone at the Post Office would say to her, "hey, you might want to buy a hundred roll of 2 cent stamps while you're here, because the price is going to 39 cents on Jan. 9th."

I don't understand why they don't just create a single stamp, put a giant "F" on it for first class, and charge whatever they charge. Anytime the post office saw a stamp with an "F," it'd be all good. But how would the Post Office know what was paid for these "F" stamps? Wouldn't people would just stock up on cheaper stamps, you say? And this would be a bad thing? Au contraire, the time value of money being what it is, it far more desirable to have large amounts of cash right now. Who knows, it might be the biggest boon in the history of the USPS.

Face Transprant

Where can you get a healthy dose of both Engrish and face transplant news, without ever leaving the compfort of your computer chair? Right here!!

The only hope for her now is a facial transplant. She said she would rather die from the surgery than committed suicide one day in autism.

Huh?

Feisty

I'm watching the Orange Bowl this evening and one of the announcers referred to Coach Joe Paterno as "feisty." For my money, feisty is the single most stealthily demeaning adjective in the English language.

I Am Alive

Sorry for disappearing on you guys. Holiday + Out Of Town + Civilization IV = Light Blogging.

Isabelle Feeling Tres Bien

Looks like Isabelle, the French woman who received the world's first face transplant, is doing better than anyone expected. Good for her. Although it bothers me that reporters still insist on discussing Isabelle's "worthiness" of the procedure.

The woman's prior psychological condition - and questions raised in the media about whether she tried to commit suicide before being maimed by the dog - have fueled ethical questions in the case.

Bachmann declined to comment about Isabelle's personal life, saying that they mostly talked about the present and not the past.

Asked if there were any concerns that Isabelle was not the ideal patient for such a radical treatment, she replied: "First of all, is there anyone perfect on earth?"

Why are people so concerned with who's getting a new face? It's not like there are faceless people getting passed over, are there? I suppose any slight misgivings might have something to do with a fear that a full face transplant might one day become an elective procedure along the lines of a nose job. I don't see that happening, though.

One more curiosity:

The most important consideration, Bachmann said, was whether Isabelle would be motivated and stable enough to take her potent anti-rejection medication every day for the rest of her life.

Wow. Hadn't heard that before. Is this true of all transplant surgeries? Or just face transplants? Sounds like yet another criterion on which a face transplant candidate will be judged. In any event, Isabelle is in it to win it for the rest of her life. I guess that sucks slightly less than going through life without a face.

Eating At Wal-Mart

No doubt that Wal-Mart is responsible for many truly innovative methods in shipping, warehousing, you name it, that have streamlined their business and allowed them to keep prices low. Which is why it boggles my mind that they feel the need to deny meal breaks to their workers. Sort of ruins the image of the generally inventive, forward-looking retailer.

Royalists

Good post by Mark at The Cautious Man about the difference between Real Conservatives (read: pro-status quo, pro-precedent, pro-rule of law) and Pretend Conservatives, a.k.a. Royalists, who eat the shit off of Dubya's ass like so many flies on a horse.

NOTE TO ROYALISTS: There are many former Soviet Republics to choose from when it finally comes to making that big move. Each one has its own unique style of severely limiting civil liberties, so make sure you take your time and choose the method that's right for you. Here's hoping emigration goes well.

Medical Marijuana

Prohibition didn't work in the 1920's and it doesn't work now. What a tremendous waste of dollars, lives, brain power, everything, just to try to stop people from getting high. It really is a joke. Except it isn't funny. Disgusting, degenerate rapists go to jail for 60 days while some poor guy caught with a stash of dope gets put away for a mandatory minimum of like 15 years. Observe Exhibit 147 as to why it is a legitimate waste of one's life to be a drug enforcement agent. While 18,000 al-Qaida operative supposedly roam freely from sea to shining sea, our law enforcement personnel are going after the truly bad seeds among us. Medical marijuana farmers. Let's face it, Catherine and Steve Smith were not hurting anyone.

Federal agents are compiling evidence seized in raids on a San Francisco medical marijuana club and pot-growing operations in the city and Sonoma County, which could soon lead to narcotics charges, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman said Wednesday.

...

Earlier Tuesday, agents raided the home of the club owners, Catherine and Steve Smith, and confiscated 122 plants, along with financial records and growing equipment.

...

The club and affiliated cooperative, called Hope Northern California Net, has been hailed as a model business by city leaders and medical marijuana activists because its primary function is providing free or low-cost marijuana to terminally ill people.

"They were amongst the first to provide to a union of indigent patients medicine at a very low cost and in most cases free," said Caren Woodson, campaign director for Americans for Safe Access, a national coalition of patients and doctors working to legitimize medical marijuana.

This issue is one of the reasons I have so little patience with the conservative rubes that so loudly dominate the national dialogue these days. They feel free to sound off on something they know absolutely nothing about, without being able to name a single good or even decent reason why they hold the position they do. By the massive weight of their stupidity and ignorance, millions of people are trapped in a violent world of extralegal commerce, trade that would otherwise take place in taxpaying warehouses and storefronts, and competition that would otherwise have nothing to do with shooting your competitor.

But "drugs are bad," they say, as they take a pull off a bottle of Miller Lite. Idiots.

P.S. If you want to make sure that drug-addled people don't go out and go on a crime rampage (which does happen a bit with meth heads and others strung out on speed but pales to nearly transparent in comparison to the thousands of acts of violence borne exclusively of everyone's favorite "no problem" intoxicant: alcohol), just triple the existing penalty for any crimes perpetrated under the influence and be done with it. Why don't they do this anyway? I believe it's because of America's dirty little secret: EVERYONE drinks and drives. Don't believe me? Please then, offer up an alternate explanation for those cheesy suburban bars that have parking lots(?!?!)

Chinese Face Race

We know that the Chinese want to be a force in the space race, but you may not have realized that they also want to factor in the face race.

Three Chinese doctors are vying to carry out the country's first face transplant.

Medics in France made history last month when they carried out the world's first partial face transplant on a woman who was injured by her dog.

It has now emerged a trio of doctors in China Li Qingfeng in Shanghai, Hong Zhijian from Jiangsu Province and Chen Huanran of Beijing are looking to take the procedure to the next level, the Beijing News daily reported yesterday.

It's face transplant mania!!!

However, the doctors also voiced concerns on issues surrounding the procedure. The first is the lack of national guidance defining who could be the recipients, Chen told China Daily in a telephone interview.

The operation could only be conducted on those who are clear of any criminal activities, and with serious disfiguring conditions, which traditional plastic surgery methods cannot repair, said Li.

Ethical concerns on the matching of the skin colour and texture between donor and recipient would also need to be addressed, said Chen.

So now it's an "ethical" issue to match the skin color. Hmmm. Speaking of ethics, I'm struck by the culture-crossing impulse to limit the recipients of face transplant to those who "really need it." How would this work? Would a potential recipient be placed in front of some review panel of former beauty pageant judges for an eligibility evaluation? "You're too cute for a face transplant" or "Good God, you're in! Get that man a face!" Perhaps an insurance adjuster would be assigned to deem whether the surgery would be considered elective or not.

"Must Have Severe Facial Deformity"

I wonder how they will decide who gets a face and who doesn't?

Jacqueline Saburido is among the 20 disfigured people who have approached surgeons at a London hospital to carry out Britain's first face transplant operation.

She was badly injured six years ago, when she visited America from Venezuela to study English.

On Sept 19 1999, Jacqui - then 20 years old - and four friends were on their way home from a birthday party when a drunken driver collided with them, killing two passengers.

...

Assessment will probably take place next week, or probably in January. "We have agreed that to be eligible, patients would have a severe facial deformity as a result of burns or an accident, that the injury would impair normal function in some way and that there would be some psychological distress," [plastic surgeon Peter Butler] said.

I wonder if you'd be able to choose your face? A lung is a lung is a lung, but a face?

Donors and recipients will also need to be matched for age, sex and skin colour.

I'd think the recipient should have some say in whose face. Per the above, aesthetics are admittedly a part of the equation. If someone has at last to choose which face, why should that someone be the doctor?

On a separate note, there was a passage in Aristotle's "Politics" that mentioned a law that punished drunken people more harshly for their crimes than sober people. I tend to agree with that one. Is that law already in existence? Drunk driving bastards.

It's Just Not Science

I like this part of the York Daily Review's editorial on the recent ruling on "Intelligent Design" in Dover, PA.

That doesn't mean God doesn't exist.

It doesn't mean the world wasn't intelligently designed.

It just means that in science you can't invoke the supernatural when you don't fully understand a natural process.

This is, of course, the part that Pat Robertson, James Dobson and the rest of the "12th centurists" don't want you to remember.


Via Atrios.

The 4th Amendment

Just in case anyone needs a bit of a reminder.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Amen! Speak it, my brother! A little lesson in civics for any knuckle-dragging mouth-breathers who happen by this blog: this amendment appears in the Bill of Rights. The freedoms this particular amendment guarantees are on the exact same level as our hallowed "freedom of speech." To determine Bush's guilt in this matter, one need go no further than the passage above, since, by law, no other law can supersede the Constitution. In other words, if you're hoping to find some secret law that allows searches and seizures (wiretaps) without a warrant and gets Bush off the hook, let me lift the suspense, you ain't gonna find it.

The Constitution of the United States of America is not a mere suggestion. To shamelessly disregard our Constitution is the ultimate act of treason, for contained within its lines is the pure essence of what our country represents to its citizens and to the world. We would do well to remember that men and women have given their lives to protect the wisdom and justice inherent to this document. Those who willfully dismiss and dishonor the object of their sacrifice deserve nothing more than our basest contempt.

Once again, for the morons: it's not the spying that's a problem, it's the lack of a warrant. If you'd rather your government should henceforth do without warrants, I hear condos in Moscow are very reasonable these days.

President Bush Confirms He Is A Dictator

From comments:

It is most disappointing that the President justifies his use of warrantless wiretaps by saying that he only uses them against terrorists. That is just like saying it is OK to jail people indefinitely without charges because you only do it to the guilty. It is disappointing because it indicates that the President and his advisers completely misunderstand the purpose of warrants which is to provide a check on the assumption that there is probable cause to believe that a particular person is violating the law. Also disappointing is that he claims he is not a dictator by saying that he is doing HIS job of protecting the American people while protecting their constitutional rights. Again he misunderstands the American system. Protecting the rights of Americans is NOT his job. It is his job to do the best he can at executing the laws while the courts have the job of making sure that what he does is consistent with the constitution. By suggesting that it is HIS job to protect Americans' rights he is actually confirming that he is a dictator rather than denying it. Most dictators, in the beginning, justify the consolidation of power in their hands by asserting that they know what is right and good for the people. It is a pernicious belief that leads ultimately to ruin.

N.B. edited slightly for style

Conservative Activists

Talk about rewriting the Constitution. Damn. These GOP types spend so much time grumbling about those liberal judges re-defining the Constitution you'd think ELIMINATING IT ENTIRELY would be sort of outside their comfort zone.

In a series of opinions examining various legal questions arising after September 11, we have examined the scope of the President's Commander-in-Chief power. . . . Foremost among the objectives committed by the Constitution to [the President's] trust. As Hamilton explained in arguing for the Constitution's adoption, "because the circumstances which may affect the public safety" are "not reducible within certain limits, it must be admitted, as a necessary consequence, that there can be no limitation of that authority, which is to provide for the defense and safety of the community, in any manner essential to its efficacy."

. . . [The Constitution's] sweeping grant vests in the President an unenumerated Executive power . . . The Commander in Chief power and the President's obligation to protect the Nation imply the ancillary powers necessary to their successful exercise.

I guess they're thinking we have to destroy the country in order to save it. Heck, why not!?!?