The Times caught wind of my blog entry exploring the medicinal use of leeches and decided to pursue the issue further. Here's an article they published today describing how a federal board of medical advisers is currently meeting to decide how best to regulate leeches, maggots, and other repulsive, yet useful medical 'devices'. really though, i still don't like 'em. (Compliments of Kresearch laboratories)
Looks like the drama continues in my hometown of Spokane, WA. The Washington State Supreme Court ruled yesterday that a recall petition for Spokane Mayor Jim West can proceed. You may or may not remember that Mayor West stands accused of soliciting men online for sex, and offering one willing taker a City Hall internship in return for sexual gratification. Bad luck for Mayor West since this 18 year old man turned out to be a computer forensics expert aiding in a sting operation (there is some debate about the motives behind this investigation, considering it was sponsored by the Spokesman-Review who’s editorial and executive staff maintain ties with one of West’s opponents…another topic altogether).
Unfortunately, this episode seems bound to further augment the homophobia endemic to Eastern Washington/Northern Idaho. Guess what guys, not all homosexuals go around soliciting youngsters for sex in return for professional favors. In fact, oh my god he’s going to say it, perhaps the culture in Spokane maybe even contributed in the slightest way to Mr. West’s actions. I’m not talking about using power for sex; that’s another issue where Mayor West seems blatantly, and deservingly guilty. Instead, I’m talking about the need for clandestine homosexual affairs carried out under the guise of a happily married family man. While outwardly championing a strongly anti-gay agenda, Mayor West battled with his internal struggle that eventually sunk him.
Jim West committed a despicable crime by using his political might for sex. For this, he should lose his job and endure the dual ignominy of public humiliation and legal sanctions. He is, however, also a victim of backwards prejudices permeating the social and political atmosphere in that region. I’m only sorry that instead of using his visibility and political sway to encourage progressive change in Spokane, he, instead, wilted under the force of public opinion and plunged into inimical behavior. The damage reaches far beyond himself.
Addendum: Also, let it be known that councilman Joe Shogan, mentioned in the final paragraph, used to make me exercise military-style firedrills every time his son, Chris, invited me to sleep over during grade school. I still wake up occasionally in a cold sweat fumbling for the window latch. It’s your glasses case, Phil. Go back to sleep. I have no doubt this guy will wreak similar havoc upon Mr. West.
The mechanical hum started in May. It hasn’t stopped since. Those regulating fans keep the office, the restaurant, the apartment, the post office…the whole city, really, at an even 71 degrees Fahrenheit on their ever-vigilant watch. The radiating, swampy heat always pulses just outside the door, waiting to smother you in its sticky, wet embrace. Heat indexes creep towards red, your lungs burn, your eyes sting, your clothes are soaken through; you succumb to the novacaine-chill of a closed door and filtered light. It’s a sedative that makes it all go away, including the joy.
But then it changes. You step outside, ready to repeat the rehearsed steps of a hackneyed, tired dance when a soothing paralysis arrests your steps. Everything looks the same: cars and drivers shuffling along, intent walkers with headphones and newspapers, an occasional honk. But something’s changed. The leaves shimmer with a newfound vigor. The light forgives instead of burns; in fact, it’s graceful and accentuating and soft. An invisible burden and an almost imperceptible scowl dissolve into a newfound enthusiasm. The right song seems easier to find and possibilities flood your neurons. You claim your ground, understanding the fight is far from over. But you claim your ground.
This federal city has generously hosted the masses, sacrificing its streets and shops, its grasses and cafes. But now its time to reclaim a forgotten city and bid a fond farewell to the adventurers and admirers that made their way here. It’s time to relax and focus on where we are and where we’re going. It’s time for grounding and embracing and thinking and singing and relishing. The summer provides that elsewhere, but dc’s summer days are something else; something neat, but something else. Now, it’s time to step outside.
And you know what that feels like? A breath of fresh air.
You really don’t need to bother following this link because I’ve pretty much copied and pasted the entire article below:
Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson suggested on-air that American operatives assassinate Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to stop his country from becoming "a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism."Pat Robertson has the right to say inflammatory things. The First Amendment affords him that right and I certainly don’t want to take it away. What scares me is that Mr. Robertson commands such a massive, obsequious audience. Listen, this religious zealot just dismissed civilized diplomacy in favor of ideological barbarism. I’m often hesitant to harangue conservative spokespersons because these issues and these people are never black and white. Nobody likes a grey scale, but that’s what we’re working with most of the time. This is different; let’s call a spade a spade. Pat Robertson fell on his own sword yesterday and Right wing America needs to realize that continuing their support for this extremist will only cost them in the long run.
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," Robertson said Monday on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club." "We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
Robertson has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
The world teems with diversity, beauty, and adventure. The urban, the isolated. The tropical, the arctic. The mountains, the ocean depths. The desert, the rainforest. Russians, Salvadorians. Silicon Valley Nanotech, Barrow whaling. Bangkok, Rio de Janeiro, Jerusalem, Berlin, Shanghai, Moscow, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Tokyo, Paris, Buenos Aires, Kiev, Cairo, Mosul, Los Angeles, Sydney, London, Bombay, and on and on and on! I want to snake through the bazaars of Istanbul, swim through Vanuatu’s tropical waters, ride Japanese bullet trains, gaze upon the crystal reflection of an alpine Patagonian lake, and explore Tehran’s Persian treasures.
The Problem: All this requires money, equipment, savvy friends, visas, the end of wars, and time. Don’t get me wrong, I want all those quixotic schemes to come to fruition within my lifetime, but practicality demands careful planning, patience, and perseverance. Luckily, there’s hope for the meantime…
The truth: adventure is more a state of mind and less a plane ticket. Treasures tuck themselves away in the most unexpected, easily dismissed locales. This lesson drilled itself into my thick skull when my roommate and I drove up to rural Maryland this weekend to visit some friends. The couple who recently built their beautiful, modern retirement home on 8-acres led me out into the musty, insect-symphony night to showcase their hidden gem. Sitting there, not 30 feet from the house itself, was a cabin constructed over 150 years ago that they had used as a bucolic escape for years before building the new house. Those same sturdy planks offered protection from the elements to some family during the American Civil War! This unexpected historical find sits less than 40 miles away from my apartment in DC and I’m sure countless other rickety cottages dot the landscape around here.
Which finally brings me to the point: the stomping ground that I know and love best, the western US, cradles its own panoply of accessible rarities-especially natural rarities-many of which I’ve never thought to explore. Since nature is what the west does best, it came as no surprise when I discovered that six western states house the oldest known tree species in the world: the Bristlecone Pine (Pinus Longaeva).
Moral of the story: something really interesting is probably really close.
Things that normally don't happen:
Have you seen this? Monumental change our German friend has brought about at the Vatican:
For those of us working with Google’s rather techy-impaired Blogger blogging service, there’s hope that improvements lay ahead. The first auspicious sign arrived yesterday when they released a program that lets you publish posts directly from Microsoft Word (access this on you Dashboard page). After downloading, you’ll see a quaint little “Publish” button in the Word toolbar tray that practically begs you to stop writing memos and start post, post, posting. You can use bullets, bold, italic, etc. All the formatting functions seem to transfer fluidly. Hyperlinks in Word publish, although, when you browse recently visited URL’s, word doesn’t seem to pick up Firefox searches, only Internet Explorer…anybody know how to link Firefox with word?
Hopefully more innovations will follow. To aid in the process, sign-in to your account and fill out the user survey. If you can’t think of anything else, recommend they let us work with the HTML in the comments page and program threaded replies. This isn’t necessarily the most pressing concern for many of us Blogger kids willing to endure the ignominy of relying on Spammers to fill our comments pages instead of Friends Networks, it would still be a neat capability. Tagging would be another nice option. Oh, and if we could work more with video….and, ummmm, if Blogger could do our tax returns and remember birthdays and make my lunch and iron shirts. That’d be nice, too.
A trio of psychology professors from UVA, Harvard, and UW (Washington, nice try Wisconsinites) collaborated on a study investigating the unconscious preferences and beliefs that people manage to shield from others and themselves. While originally designed to plumb the mental recesses of research subjects to determine the roots of thinking and feeling, the researchers have adopted their Implicit Association Test (IAT) for joe shmoe’s like you and me to “gain greater awareness about [our] own unconscious preferences and beliefs.” The test purportedly seeks to root-out both attitudes that we intentionally shield from others, and those that we’re oblivious about to begin with. It’s an interesting approach and I highly recommend trying a couple tests to a) see if you’re a racist/sexist/[insert other rancorous-ist term] bastard and, b) determine whether you agree with their approach.
I think it’s way better if you take the tests in the silken scarves of a virginal IAT subject, so I’ll spare you the bulk of my analysis. Quickly, however, I’m interested if others have qualms with any of the following:
• Many of the tests are structured so that you’re more prone to err in sections indicating traditional biases (based on the precept that you become more adept and comfortable with the test as you answer more questions…I suppose the counterargument would say you become tired near the end and make more mistakes. I’d reply by saying the tests are too short to warrant such an argument…and then we’d go on and on like baboons drunk on our own pseudo-intellectual gibberish)
• Some technical impediments (poor screen resolution, slow computer) could skew results
• Semantics play a pivotal role and I’m not sure the loaded term ‘preference’ can properly encapsulate all the sundry mentalities that score similarly
• Two simple metrics-speed and accuracy-seem a bit insufficient
I’m guessing those who devised the test would either disagree with me or say that nothing’s perfect. I would, in turn, agree with them that I don’t know what I’m talking about and concede that they’re also correct on their second point. In all seriousness, I find this subject fascinating and applaud them for taking steps to investigate hidden biases, because I know I harbor them and i'm guessing others might, too. It's the first step in solving a larger problem. So, without further ado, go try a test because they’re pretty interesting and maybe somewhat revealing.
