articles of interest - Dec. 9

Your Final Wish Isn’t Always Your Doctor’s Command: by Ann Woolner

In the continuing sagas of the power of advance directives, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has come out saying they will not uphold a person’s wishes if they run counter to Catholic morals. The alternative is to move the person to a non-Catholic hospital. I think this issue is very fascinating from an ethical standpoint, for there are two ethical systems coming into conflict. All major religions run into this potential problem, namely when to follow the religious ethic over the ethics of the country. The U.S. is heavily into autonomy. Religion tends to limit autonomy. At the same time, it has been argued that the religious person chooses to limit his/her autonomy by becoming a member of the religion. In this situation, the issue is whether tube feeding is obligatory as nutrition is a basic need of humanity. I think that their choice might also boil down to the fight on human value. Sometimes we too easily argue “so and so has no quality of life,” arguing in a sense that there is no value to the person’s continued existence.

DHS takes action in bungled posting of airport security secrets By Spencer S. Hsu and Carrie Johnson
All I can is oops. I guess homeland security doesn’t worry about our security so much. This is very scary.

Copenhagen's political science by Sarah Palin

Those of you following Climategate will find this editorial refreshing. Science is not above politics. For those interested in the subject of the subjectivity of science will want to read Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. As many people have called for, with the latest in the false findings, Copenhagen needs to be boycotted. It begins to appear as though the Copenhagen talks are less about “climate control” than all out redistributing wealth from the wealthy countries to those who would be unable to support climate change regulations.

articles of interest - Dec 7

Petraeus: Obama Said Surge Worked

Really? So now the surge worked? When he was running for President, the tone was different. He must have been wearing shaded glasses until now.

U.S. sees homegrown Muslim extremism as rising threat: this may have been the most dangerous year since 9/11, anti-terrorism experts say By Sebastian Rotella

The fifth column begins to rise. This is scary though not completely unexpected.

Johns Hopkins Medicine CEO: Obamacare Will Have “Catastrophic Effects” on Health-Care Safety-Net

Health Care Reform will lead to more Americans relying on government help instead of less. I see now how we are “cutting” our deficit. Oh wait, Obama and the government aren’t going to lower taxes and cut government spending. Surprise, Surprise!

Pearl Harbor mini-submarine mystery solved? Researchers think they have found the remains of a Japanese mini-submarine that probably fired on U.S. battleships on Dec. 7, 1941.

This is a fascinating historical piece. The battleships were not sunk merely by air strikes.

Rosh HaShanah L'Chasidut

Today is the 19th day of Kislev. In the Hasidic world, many dynasties celebrate this day as their new year. I am particularly aware of Chabad celebrating this day. In Chabad tradition, today begins the yearly study of Tanya of the Alter Rebbe, the first Chabad Rebbe.

Articles of interest - Dec. 6

The Ph.D. Problem: On the professionalization of faculty life, doctoral training, and the academy’s self-renewal by Louis Menand


In an interesting study which seemingly summarizes current thinking, professor Menand discusses the potential need to reconfigure the PhD academic experience with regard to end goal. If more students could potentially finish in less time, plus find meaningful work in areas related to the degree, it might be a means to encourage those on the fence of attempting graduate work to pursue the higher level, post college study. Of course, one could claim that the need to revamp PhD programs also relates to the change in education in undergraduate settings. For many areas of study, an undergraduate education is clearly inadequate. Some of this I would argue is related to the lessening of importance of the high school diploma. To get many jobs today, a BA/BS is the minimum one needs.


A broader definition of healthcare By Kim Geiger and Tom Hamburger

The new health care plan is tempting to increase insurance reimbursements for complimentary alternative therapies. The article poses that this would potentially negate the said goal of health care reform which is to cut spending on non-proven treatments. I guess this is further evidence that the goal of the health care reform is not to actually reform health care but to pander to lobbyists and other supporters.

The '00s: Goodbye (at Last) to the Decade from Hell by Andy Serwer
For those who accept the false notion that decades begin with 0 and end with 9, then yes, we are at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. To just comment on one of my pet peeves, decades begin on the year ...1 and end with ...0, as the 0 is a 10, not a 0. Having said that, I am not sure I would say this was one of the worst decade. Many disasters and downturns don't always qualify time periods as such. Sure, we faced many difficult events, but what decade hasn't seen bad and good. Why be such doomsayers? I guess read the article and you be the judge. I still think one can argue that the 1930s were much worse (and lets hope that remains such).

articles of interest Dec. 5

The Fall of Greg Craig, Obama's Top Lawyer - TIME: by Massimo Calabresi and Michael Weisskopf"

In this interesting article about the Obama's top lawyer's recent resignation, I noticed an interesting guffaw by the authors. One of the reasons for Greg Craig's marginalization was his insistence on releasing pictures and information about our treatment of terrorists. The intelligence community was able to prevail on Obama that the release of this information would be used to further anti-American sentiment as well as tip off the terrorists in our torture methods, thus allowing them to train future terrorists in means of being prepared for those methods. So, in discussing this aspect of Craig's demise, the authors gave examples of how we treated said terrorists. Is it just me or does that seem to be the exact problem that got the subject of the article in trouble?

The Growing Backlash Against Overparenting by Nancy Gibbs
An interesting discussion on the challenges of finding a good equilibrium in parenting. When is it too much or too little?

articles of interest - Dec. 3 and 4

Rumsfeld to Obama: What Requests For Troops in Afghanistan Are You Talking About?
Posted by Dan McLaughlin

It seems Obama misspoke again. This time he accuses Rumsfeld of preventing further build up in Afghanistan. Perhaps Obama needs to worry more about his policies than the "mistakes" of his predecessors.

As Predicted, the Senate Republicans Are Improving the Health Care Bill so it Passes
Posted by Erick Erickson

For all the talk about needing to stop this Health Care Reform, it seems the Republican party is letting down its base, who are all anti-reform as currently being debated in the Senate. It is truly disappointing when we see evidence that the "2" party system tends towards 2 sides of one political power. I think oligarchy is a good word for our current political structure.


This will not end well by George F. Will

He argues what is quickly becoming a common feeling about the surge in Afghanistan. He expresses that if the goal for Afghanistan is how quickly we can get out, then it will fail.

Uncertain trumpet By Charles Krauthammer

Many felt that Obama's speech lacked in forcefulness. He never discussed victory. Instead, he harped on the withdrawal within 18 months of entering. How can we possibly succeed if success is a relative success. We might as well withdraw now.

articles of interest - Dec 2

Here are some articles from Today's news sources.

"An Empire at Risk" in Newsweek - by Niall Ferguson

Is our real challenge economic decline? Should we be more focused on the economic challenges this country faces than the current new upsurge of troops to Afghanistan? A very fascinating article, looking at how our debt is rising to percentages too high to be sustained with our current GDP.


"Freedom’s Martyr" in NY Times by David Reynolds

The 9/11 of 1859 in NY Times by Tony Horwitz

Two opinion pieces on the significance of the raid on Harper's Ferry led by John Brown in 1859.


Men's genes 'may limit lifespan'

Recent research has suggested that men have shorter life spans because of our genetic makeup, which tends towards greater growth and use of energy. Could it be that each of us in our DNA is preprogrammed for a certain life span and then depending on how we use it could determine whether we cut our life short?

Mix-Up Denied Officials Info About Fort Hood Suspect by Dina Temple-Raston

So, its the FBI's fault. Hmm. Also, I find it rather bothersome that we are now going to distinguish Hassan's killings such that he only tried to kill soldiers, not civilians. In other words, we should feel sorry for him because when he snapped, he was trying to merely defend his Muslim brethren against those who would have gone off to war with the potential for killing his fellow Muslims. He snapped and was calculating. Seems to me like one big contradiction, leading me to assume this was premeditated.


President's Afghan drawdown plan called risky, 'unrealistic' By Matt Smith, CNN

Let's see. Not enough troops and a timetable that is designed for quick in and quick out. All across the board the timetable is being questioned as completely unrealistic. The troop amount is also a point of concern.

Obama’s Afghan Hedge Undercuts Clinton’s NATO Ask

Will Obama's decision to increase the troops, though not to the extent of McCrystal's recommendation, cause our NATO allies to think twice about also committing more troops to Afghanistan?

Five Unanswered Questions about U.S. Strategy in Afghanistan

The title speaks for itself.

Obama Mirrors LBJ's Vietnam Exit Speech by Theodore Kettle

There is a feeling, becoming more prominent, that all we are doing in Afghanistan is repeating the mistakes of Vietnam. It seems people from all corners of the political spectrum are finding the new strategy to be lacking.

Tiger Woods

Why does the whole Tiger Woods fiasco surprise us? Athletes are not role models and we always seem to have to reminded of that simple truth. I find that people forget time and time again that athletes tend to believe anything goes, even if they publicly attest to living moral, truthful lives. That will be the extent of my comments on Tiger Woods, because I don't particularly care about his infidelity(ies).

back to business - I hope

After another extra long hiatus, I have decided to return to the world of blogging. To start, I want to highlight a couple of articles I read today. The first is an opinion piece entitled "Strong Enough for a 'reset' with Russia? One line which jumped out to me, though secondary to the main thesis of the piece, was the author's report that many in Russia see the current US involvement in Afghanistan as a potential repeat of the Soviet failure in Afghanistan. Only history will be the judge if that is correct.

The second is a science and health piece entitled "Feeling lonely? Chances are you're not alone.
Loneliness is transmittable, researchers say" Loneliness is not lonely. Many of us feel lonely in crowds of people we know.