July 24, 2008
More Gossip
Back on May 5, 2008, I posted a blog note about the sleazy TV show - "Gossip Girl." Well, Gossip Girl is in the news again - see the article in Newsweek. It appears that the geniuses who produce this sleazefest have decided to quote the show's critics in advertising posters promoting the new season of raunch. So, for example, one ad quotes Parents Television Council which had called the program, "Mind-Blowingly Inappropriate." If you have the maturity of a 14-year-old boy this is probably mind-bogglingly clever.
I prefer to see these ads as another a piece of evidence that this country needs cable choice (a la carte) more than ever. Parents need to be able to block networks like CW - even though it is a broadcast channel - from entering their home. Perhaps then the folks at CW and Gossip Girl will be less like likely to mock the decent Americans who really do care about the welfare of teenagers and young adults more than the prospect of selling ads and making buckets of money. Oh, sorry, I should have said - producing great art.
Sitting on the bench (in more ways than one)
A week ago, July 17th marked the 365th day that Chief Judge Robert Conrad has been nominated for the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals and has not had a hearing in the Senate. That is one year, without the basic courtesy of Senate Democrats telling him to his face why they do not want him on court. It is also one year in which the 4th Circuit has languished, short-handed, with over a quarter of its seats vacant. A recent hearing in the Senate, convened by Sen. Alexander of Tennessee, brought a distinguished panel of witnesses to show why this is unfair to Judge Conrad and the American people.
Judge Conrad is eminently qualified to sit on the 4th Circuit. In fact, as recently as 2006 the Senate deemed him qualified to head the Federal Western District Court of the North Carolina, and a year before that appointed him to that court without opposition. As the representative of the North Carolina Bar Association told the Senate panel, Conrad is a superb lawyer who deserves to be put on the court, not left in judicial limbo. (He also noted that North Carolina, the most populous state in the 4th Circuit, has only one judge on the court--a misrepresentation that Judge Conrad's appointment would help to remedy.)
Perhaps the worst part about what is going on is the dishonesty of it all. Sen. Patrick Leahy, Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, has already unfairly smeared Judge Conrad by wantonly mischaracterizing his religious beliefs. Now he has taken refuge behind the so-called "Thurmond Rule" in holding up the nomination of Conrad and others like him. Leahy alleges that Republicans, led by deceased Sen. Strom Thurmond in 1980, purposefully obstructed the nominations of President Carter's federal judges since it was an election year, so, in the words of Leahy, they might "remain vacant in order to be filled with the nominations of the next president." The Congressional Research Service debunked that claim. In fact, in September of 1980 the Senate confirmed 12 judicial nominations. The Senate even confirmed Stephen Breyer (now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court) to the 1st Circuit after Reagan's election. All in all, of the 14 nominations pending in 1980 12 received hearings, 10 were reported, and 10 were confirmed--71.4%. Compare that to the 35% treatment Bush has received.
Sen. Leahy should be honest about the Thurmond Rule, and follow Sen. Thurmond's example by holding hearings on 8 more judges--starting with Robert Conrad.
"Gay" Soldiers in George Washington's Army?
One of the most bizarre aspects of the July 23 Congressional hearing on homosexuals in the military was the effort to read 21st-century political correctness back into American history.
Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.) insisted, "We've had gays in the American military from the first unit that was ever formed." Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) echoed this astonishing claim, saying that "gays have served in every conflict, every war" this country has fought.
In fact, Shays was even more specific, noting a patriotic event in his district at which they read the names of "everyone who lost his life in the French and Indian War--some of whom were gay."
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) declared that allowing homosexuals to serve would be an expression of the high value Americans place on the principle of equal opportunity. He even claimed the father of our country, George Washington, as an ally who believed that "the way to the top should be open to everyone." In context, that referred to the respect Washington had for enlisted men in relation to officers--but Sestak apparently would have us believe that Washington felt the same way about equal opportunity for homosexuals.
Actually, though, we have some very precise evidence in the historical record of what Gen. Washington thought about homosexual conduct. It can be found in his General Orders issued on Saturday, March 14, 1778, toward the end of his army's long, bitter winter at Valley Forge. Like today, his army was at war. Like today, his army had serious problems of recruitment and retention. Perhaps, like today, there might have been some people who would have argued that his army could not afford to lose a soldier over something like his sexual conduct.
But that argument carried no water with Washington. On the 10th of March, a General Court Martial was held to try Lieut. Frederick Gotthold Enslin "for attempting to commit sodomy, with John Monhort a soldier." Having been convicted, he was sentenced "to be dismiss'd the service with Infamy."
That may have been the verdict of the court martial, but is there any evidence of what Washington himself thought? In fact, there is: "His Excellency the Commander in Chief approves the sentence and with Abhorrence and Detestation of such Infamous Crimes orders Lieutt. Enslin to be drummed out of Camp tomorrow morning by all the Drummers and Fifers in the Army never to return . . ."
If members of Congress and homosexual activists want to argue for repeal of the existing law in order to allow homosexuals to serve openly in the military, let them make their case. But it is sheer nonsense to claim that such an action would be anything but a radical deviation from the unbroken practice of the American military throughout our country's history.
July 22, 2008
San Diego Honors Pedophilia
It seems that the San Diego LGBT Pride Parade has a long history of problems associated with pedophilia, including hiring a number of registered sex offenders. However this year they truly crossed the lines to practically endorsing pedophilia by naming pedophilia activist Peter Tatchell as the International Grand Marshal. The fact that such a person even exists, let alone to be endorsed by an organization that also receives taxpayer funded services, is incomprehensible.
Mr. Tatchell's website (which I won't link to but which can be found easy enough) includes topic titles such as
- "Lowering the unrealistic age of consent will help teenagers: The criminalisation of teen sex inhibits advice and protection,"
- "SEX RIGHTS FOR THE UNDER-16s, Young people under 16 have sexual rights too,"
- "I'M 14, I'M GAY & I WANT A BOYFRIEND, Fourteen year old LEE tells about first sex, boyfriends, coming out, paedophilia, and why an age of consent of 16 won't help under-age gays like him."
- "CONSENT AT 16: PROTECTION OR PERSECUTION, Young people under 16 have a right to make their own sexual choices without being victimised by the law."
How this man is not immediately arrested instead of being honored at a parade is beyond me.
July 21, 2008
Batman: The Dark Knight
At one level it's a bit embarrassing to admit that I regularly watch movies based on comic books. I'm 56 and my youngest is 14, so it's at least a semi-voluntary endeavor. Nonetheless, I grew up with subscriptions to DC Comics, the "Justice League of America," "Classics Illustrated," and an obscure favorite called "Metal Men." These readings did not replace literature for my siblings and me; they supplemented it, and, with "Classics" especially, helped to pique interest in the real (and even unabridged) thing. It's hard even now to describe the imaginative windows opened by just a handful of N.C. Wyeth illustrations in the editions we craved as children.
Thus, an invitation to watch a full-fledged Batman movie with today's technological accomplishment is no bow to my teenage son, it's irresistible. The new feature, The Dark Knight, is engrossing and visually spectacular. Unlike the comic books, however, it also has psychological depth and is almost unremittingly dark. It is good v. evil, certainly, but it is a troubled good confronting, in the character of the calculating Joker played by the late Heath Ledger, an almost-explicable evil.
The intense scenes of the Joker wielding knives in the face of his victims are stomach-churning to watch (at least one hopes that audiences have not become used to scenes like this that, in Roman Polanski's 1970's film noir Chinatown, became an iconic image of sadistic criminality), but it is during these scenes that the character explicates his personal history. He is the tormented product, he seems to imply, of his father's wanton cruelty to his mother, just as much as Batman, played by Christian Bale, is the product of his father's heroic effort to save his mother. Role reversals abound in the movie, and the public's need for heroes it can both treasure and revile supplies the broad dramatic tension, but good fathers clearly matter.
Among the twisted ethical dilemmas the Joker poses to Gotham City involves two ferry boats full of passengers who are challenged to a potentially mutually fatal decision. One boat is full of criminals, the other ordinary citizens, so it is not a "Sophie's Choice" that is presented. The scene is played out to an extraordinary conclusion. In the murky moral swamp into which Gotham City has sunk, this depiction of "lifeboat ethics" leaves plenty of room for thought. The Dark Knight is overlong and the violence exceeds its prequel, Batman Begins, and there are instances of implied sexuality and some language.
Finally, the film redefines the Batcycle just as Batman Begins redefined the Batmobile. At least a few things in Gotham City have gotten definite upgrades. Now if only my mother hadn't thrown out a half million dollars' worth of comics . . .
California Stem Cell Meltdown?
California's Stem Cell Affordability Bill (SB 1565) has received no mention in the mainstream media, but has caused a tremendous stir. Sponsored by Sens. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, and George Runner, R-Antelope Valley, the measure will supposedly ensure equal and affordable access to any products developed through the state taxpayer-funded $3 billion stem cell grant program, give more flexibility for approval of projects by the grants review working group, and provide for an audit of the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) governing board. So far no legislator has voted against it, and it will likely soon come to Gov. Schwarzenegger for his signature.
But during the legislative process, it has been attacked relentlessly by some embryonic stem cell advocates and by surrogates of the CIRM, Sen. Kuehl has been personally, viciously attacked by those same forces, and questions about the leader of California's embryonic stem cell enterprise have re-surfaced. In particular there has been criticism of Robert Klein holding dual, and conflicting, positions as chairman of the state stem cell agency, the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, and president of the advocacy group, Americans for Cures. With the rather apparent conflict of interest, there were calls for Klein to resign from one or the other position, but despite some reports that he had resigned as president of Americans for Cures, that has yet to be confirmed.
For more stories and details on the histrionics in California, check the California Stem Cell Report.
Most Scientists Get Along With Journalists?
Scientists and journalists have not necessarily had a good relationship in the past. While scientists like the attention to their work, sometimes they have not been good at explaining their results, its real significance, and the process of scientific investigation, and there have been real fears about being misquoted. But the scientist-journalist relationship seems to be warming. In a report published July 11 in the journal Science, a majority of scientists interviewed said that they were generally happy with their media interactions. The report was by a team led by Hans Peter Peters of the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, interviewed more than 1,300 researchers in the fields of epidemiology and stem cell research. The survey found similar results with scientists from the U.S., U.K., Japan, France, and Germany. The study also suggests scientists are becoming more knowledgeable about how journalists work, and are more skilled at working with reporters than in the past.
One German stem cell researcher, Hans Schöler, obviously doesn't fall in the majority, though. A number of German news stories (sorry, no English-speaking media have picked up the story yet) report that Schöler wants a gag rule for journalists. He even refused to continue a scientific talk recently in Berlin because he detected journalists present. Maybe a little media training is in order?
Identification of Spinal Cord Adult Stem Cells for Repair
Researchers at MIT and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden have identified specific adult stem cells in the spinal cord that might be activated to repair a spinal cord injury. Konstantinos Meletis and co-workers have been able to mark the specific stem cells for the spinal cord. "We have been able to genetically mark this neural stem cell population and then follow their behavior," Meletis said. "We find that these cells proliferate upon spinal cord injury, migrate toward the injury site and differentiate over several months." The study, published in the July issue of the journal PLoS Biology, could lead to ways to activate the cells in an injured spinal cord for repair of damage and regrowth of nerve axons.
Grow Your Own Heart Bypass
Newly-published research shows that new blood vessels for the heart can be grown using adult stem cells from blood and bone marrow. The work combined two types of specialized (progenitor) adult stem cell types transplanted into mice, to give the best production of blood vessels of the type that are used for heart bypass surgery. The study was reported in the July 18 issue of the journal Circulation Research. One of the authors, Dr. Juan M. Melero-Martin of Harvard Medical School, said that "For clinical use, the way we envision it, if a patient has need to vascularize ischemic tissue, we can get cells from the patient ahead of time, grow them and inject them back into the patient." One goal now is to reduce the time it takes to grow the blood vessels outside the body. Extensive growth now is seen after seven days, and the hope is to reduce that to 24 to 48 hours.
Growing your own bypass, with your own cells, may be what is taking place for many heart patients that have already been treated with their own adult stem cells. That's how Lieutenant Ronnie Smallwood sees it. Smallwood suffered from congestive heart failure. He was treated by putting some of his own adult stem cells into parts of his heart muscle. Smallwood is now feeling better, and ready to go back to fishing in his off hours. He was treated by Dr. Emerson Perin of the Texas Heart Institute, who has treated a number of heart patients with their own adult stem cells. "What we are doing with the stem cells is hopefully creating better blood flow to areas of the heart that don't get good blood flow," Dr. Perin says.
The Scent of Dirt
Do you like the smell of fresh earth? Does a whiff from a freshly-plowed field or just-tilled garden improve your mood? Well it might soon be possible for you to get that fresh earthy smell even in your uptown apartment. That earthy smell comes from the combination of two harmless chemicals that are made by bacteria in the soil. Scientists report that they have successfully isolated the bacterial genes responsible for synthesizing those chemicals. Now maybe even those far from the farm (but who like the scent) can experience the scent, and without the dirt!
"New" Report on Embryonic Stem Cell Debate, Same Old Inaccurate News
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has issued a new report on Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
The reason for the report is not obvious, because it contains very little new information, and even as a collection of the arguments it is slanted and superficial. The science section is incomplete and contains a number of inaccuracies, e.g., "In the mid-1990s, scientists began studying embryonic stem cells, at first in mice" (instead, two groups first isolated mouse embryonic stem cells in 1981.)
Worthwhile are the interviews with Yuval Levin and Jonathan Moreno, presenting the case against and for embryonic stem cell research, respectively.
The poll information is somewhat interesting, showing continually decreasing support for embryonic stem cell research, though as most now realize, the phrasing of poll questions determines the responses.
Much more informative is the poll recently done by the Ethics & Public Policy Center on Public Opinion and the Embryo Debates, showing continuing confusion about the basic facts of the debate. That article is definitely worth your time to read. But the Pew report may only contribute to the relative lack of knowledge of real facts
July 19, 2008
Blade Runner Will Miss Olympics
Oscar Pistorius of South Africa, nicknamed "Blade Runner", will not be running in the Olympics. He failed to qualify in the 400m and was not selected for the 4x400m relay.
Pistorius received his nickname and running notoriety because he is a double amputee with two carbon-fiber prosthetics as legs; the prosthetics look like springy J-shaped blades. His bid to attempt an Olympic run was the subject of contention in the athletic community. Back in January 2008, the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAFF) had ruled that Pistorius had an unfair advantage and shouldn't be allowed to compete against "able-bodied" athletes.
He appealed the ruling and in May, the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the ban. A team of scientists led by Peter Weyand of Rice University, Houston, had done testing and found that Pistorius' prosthetic legs did not give him an unfair advantage.
While it's sad to see that Pistorius barely failed to make the 2008 Olympics, count on more discussions about prosthetics, body modifications, and whether some of these qualify as enhancements.
July 17, 2008
Time For Another ACT Press Release?
The Boston Globe is reporting that Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a Massachusetts biotechnology company, is running low on cash and may have to shut down or at least make severe cutbacks. ACT has been in the news in the past (usually first with their own press releases) for claims such as the first cloned human embryo, animal-human hybrid clone, creating organs by gestating clones, and for a technique that supposedly might produce embryonic stem cells without harming embryos. As the Globe story notes, "ACT has been dogged by complaints that it over-hyped its research", and there has also been controversy about the way it has promoted some of its science, including its penchant in some cases for publication via press release. In 2002 auditors found it had mispent grant funds. It is also facing some other recent problems, including departure of many of its executives, including founder Michael West.
Though unrelated to its own troubles, ACT's name was also in recent news about the mayor of Beaufort, SC being charged with insider trading by the SEC. According to the SEC, in 2006 an ACT executive told Mayor William Rauch, who had been a consultant for ACT, about a breakthrough embryonic-stem-cell technique the company was about to make public, after which he bought more than $11,000 worth of ACT stock, which gained 360% after the announcement was made public.
A Limit to Judicial Activism
They finally got one right! After two of the worst, most politically motivated decisions in history, the California Supreme Court finally issued a rational decision. The Court threw out a challenge to this fall's ballot initiative seeking to enshrine traditional marriage in the California constitution. The challenge was the latest attempt by social leftists to prevent the people of California from deciding an absolutely fundamental issue - the definition of marriage. Of course, the traditional definition of one man and one woman was thrown into dispute because the same California Supreme Court held that "limiting" marriage to one man and one woman was discriminatory against homosexuals who wished to marry one another. They then followed that up by what might be the most undemocratic action of all: refusing to "stay" the legal effect of their decision until the people of California could decide the issue in the fall.
Apparently, the chief justice and others are convening meetings to, as they call, it "preserve impartial courts in California." It is hard not to laugh. Exactly what is "impartial" about outlawing marriage as an "irrational" institution? Or about refusing to stay that decision until the people can vote?
IVF's Past and the Next 30 Years of Reproduction
The journal Nature has a news focus in this week's issue with three articles on in vitro fertilization (IVF) and related technologies. An Editorial piece looks back at the impact of IVF, Ruth Deech, a member of the UK House of Lords and former chair of their Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) looks at the legacy of the U.K.'s early regulation of this reproductive technology, and Nature reporter Helen Pearson interviews several scientists about the future developments they foresee in the next 30 years. There is some interesting history here for those who are unfamiliar with the IVF industry and its beginnings, important questions are raised about the need for monitoring and registries of IVF-conceived children (as the Nature editors note, "safety concerns about IVF have still not evaporated" and little information is available, especially regarding newer practices such as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis), and some thought-provoking and sometimes scary future scenarios (genetic engineering of babies, artificial gametes, artificial placentas, etc.) that deserve careful discussion about where we may be headed.
July 16, 2008
How the Irish Saved Civilization
I asked my Witherspoon Fellows, Jan Ledochowski and Simona Beskova, to attend a talk on Tuesday by the man behind the Irish vote against the Treaty of Lisbon, which would have further expanded and consolidated the European Union. Their report follows:
Continue reading "How the Irish Saved Civilization" »
A Taxing Proposition
Representative Jim McDermott (D-Wash.) has a new proposal out that seems to be right on the dubious heels of the "Strip@Clothe" campaign to "help" the homeless. Rep. McDermott has just introduced legislation, H.R. 6501, that seeks to tax Internet gambling and use the "proceeds" to help those "in foster care and individuals in declining sectors of the economy." This seems to be a typical liberal strategy - for who wouldn't want to help orphans and such? (Perhaps those who believe it is the responsibility of people and not governments, however that is a different subject.) Who cares where the money is coming from if it is for a good cause?
Rep. McDermott's bill does not seem to actually legalize Internet gambling in the United States, so apparently he would seek to tax illegal activities. Well it was Ronald Reagan who said "one way to make sure crime doesn't pay would be to let the government run it" so this could be a way to stop Internet gambling - but the government would most likely find a way to eventually subsidize it. (As another great President Reagan quote (does he have any other?) goes "the government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.")
I am curious on how my Libertarian friends view the actions of some of those who support overturning the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act and the argument on all the money that would come into the government coffers by taxing online gambling. Having worked at one of the finer Libertarian-minded think tanks I know that most good Libertarians are opposed to taxing anything on the Internet. It is also highly dubious if such an action would be profitable. Taxing Internet gambling would place an enormous burden on Internet companies, at a time when the pro-Internet gambling forces say the current proposed regulations place an unfair burden on the banking companies. Why should a company be forced by the government to become a tax collector for more than 30,000 tax jurisdictions across the country? If that expense doesn't put them out of business then the countless lawsuits from state governments claiming they didn't collect a sufficient amount of taxes on their behalf will.
Hat tip: Friend on the Hill
Targeting Tumors with Umbilical Cord Stem Cells
Kansas State University researchers are developing a method to use umbilical cord cells to deliver cancer-fighting drugs directly to tumors. Dr. Deryl Troyer and colleagues note that these umbilical cord stem cells have a natural homing ability to areas of tissue damage, including tumors. "We are using the cells as stealth vehicles," Troyer said. Their project involves loading the stem cells with nanoparticles containing the anti-cancer drugs, and letting the cells home in on tumors, where they would release their cargo.
The project, a part of Kansas State's Midwest Institute for Comparative Stem Cell Biology, uses a type of adult stem cell that is not from cord blood, but is instead from the solid part of the umbilical cord, known as Wharton's jelly. These adult stem cells have the ability to form various cell types of the body, including neuronal cells, and have already shown the ability in animal models to ameliorate symptoms of Parkinson's diease.
There's more than wheat and wind on the plains of Kansas.
Feel Like A Million, or $6.9 Million?
According to the EPA, that's the current value for a human life (their value estimate has dropped over the last year.) The estimate is for the "value of a statistical life", a number used in cost-benefit calculations. But before you brag you're worth more than the $6 Million Man, note that other agencies have different figures for your value, so you may be worth more or less than that. Time magazine recently noted that the value of one year of human life was approximately $50,000. A different estimate, based on parting you out for transplants and biological reagents, puts the value at over $45 million. And of course there's the old estimate that if broken down to basic elements, you're worth a grand total of $4.50... But I prefer to think the value of an individual human life is, as the commercial says, priceless!
More Testimony Supporting CIANA
I blogged Monday about the Forum on the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA) that Judiciary minority members held last Thursday, July 10th, and I posted the statements made by Representatives Franks, Lamar Smith and testimony given by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
I wanted to make sure you saw the testimony of the other witnesses who discussed the effectiveness and constitutionality of CIANA and it's importance to protecting young girls. You can read Professor Teresa Collett's submitted testimony about the legal and constitutional aspects of CIANA here, and submitted testimony by Missy Smith, a post-abortion woman who has since become pro-life and works to prevent trafficking of young girls seeking abortions. Michael New also testified and he posted a blog with his testimony here.
Continue reading "More Testimony Supporting CIANA " »
The 5.9 Billion Dollar Man
Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee has been reaping the rewards of his support for gambling online by a large increase of political donations from those who would profit from his efforts to de-legalize online gambling. In addition the gambling "industry" (which is estimated to be a $5.9 
billion industry - despite being illegal in the U.S.) is holding high end fund-raisers in his honor according to a story in the Boston Globe. One of those fundraisers was held in the home of a former Rep. Frank staffer whom now makes a tidy sum lobbying for online gambling.
One of his "fans", a media relations director from an online gambling site referred to Rep. Frank as a God for his efforts. New donors to his campaign also include celebrity poker players like Annie Duke ("The Duchess of Poker"), Howard Lederer ("The Professor"), and Andy Bloch ("The Rock"). I testified against the "Duchess" last year over online gambling, and while she seems very nice I unfortunately was not given a cool nickname (or at least not one to my face or that could be printable here.)
Elsewhere a study conducted jointly by academics of the University of Western Ontario in Canada and the University of Nevada at Las Vegas -- found that online gamblers tend bet more frequently and aggressively than they do in casinos (they needed a study to figure that out?) They also discovered that "online gambling is readily accessible via the Internet even though it is outlawed or in a "legal grey area" in United States and Canada."
While the study might not be new news their unbelievable conclusion is. After concluding how different real live gambling and online gambling are the crackerjack study team "suggest legalizing and regulating online gambling, similar to the way casino gambling is regulated, may help reduce the incidences of problem gambling." They give a laundry list of suggestions, some which have been automatically ruled out because of the anonymity of the Internet, such as "cross-checking new users with lists of pathological gamblers." Or have proven to not be successful when tried in regulating online pornography.
They also "recommend online gambling casinos minimize use of flashing bold graphics to signal wins to lessen the emotional experience for gamblers."
Please tell me this was not a government funded study.
July 15, 2008
Platinum Engagement (Nose)rings?
In a recent letter to the Desert Sun the Rev. Kevin A. Johnson firmly asserts that "marriage has improved over history." I am of the view that in many ways marriage has changed, and for the better; however its fundamental nature of being between men and women has not and cannot. Further, Pastor Johnson's understanding of this "improvement" is silly and self-defeating.
He argues that we can find evidence of how much better marriage is today than it was before in the story of Isaac and Rebecca. He says, "I was interested to note the customs reported and startled to read where the wedding ring was placed - not on a finger but in her nose. It was not a sign of unending grace and intended fidelity but a receipt of transferred ownership of the daughter from the father to the new husband." I am no expert in Sumerian mating practices, but this strikes me as fishy. While contemporary secondary scholarship might say differently, I recall no indication in the Bible of Isaac turning Rebecca into Ferdinand the Bull. King James and Douai-Reims both mention "earrings"-a term supported by St. Jerome in the Vulgate ("inaures"). While the image of women brutally subjugated and treated like cattle under traditional "Biblical" marriage makes a convenient image for the Pastor to use in pillorying conservative Christians, it sadly seems to have little actual Biblical support.
What does have Biblical support in the time of Abraham and Isaac, however, is polygamy. Polygamy's relegation to the dustbin of social custom in the Judeo-Christian world is certainly one of the preeminent ways in which "marriage has improved over history." Yet, this same decision by the California Supreme Court, so celebrated by Pastor Johnson, opens the door to legalized polygamy in the United States. (The ball here is already moving in cases like Holm v. Utah.) I wonder, when some of his neighbors use the precedents set in California to return to the polygamy of the Patriarchs, if Pastor Johnson will see fit to preach on "irony"?
Adult Stem Cell Success
The good news just keeps coming about successful human treatments with adult stem cells. If you want to read about those from the last six months, David Prentice and I have a new paper recounting their stories. Click here to read it.
About that French Revolution
When Chinese Communist Chou En-lai was asked his opinion of the French Revolution, he replied: "It is too soon to tell." Edmund Burke had no such hesitation, as my colleague Michael Fragoso shared with us. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was another Briton with few doubts.
In 1989, Mrs. Thatcher went to Paris for the G-7 conference. President Francois Mitterrand had decided to use the summit to showcase the bicentenaire of the French Revolution. Reporters flocked to Mrs. Thatcher to get her impressions of the event. What did she think of the French Revolution, they probed. "It resulted in a lot of headless corpses and a tyrant," the Iron Lady replied. But surely Madame would agree that the French Revolution began the long march toward human rights, non? "Certainly not! That began with Magna Carta," Mrs. Thatcher replied firmly. For this act of resistance, Mrs. Thatcher was consigned to the second row of dignitaries at the Notre Dame festivities. Still, she may have had the last word. As Britain's gift to France on the two hundredth anniversary of their revolution, Mrs. Thatcher presented a leather-bound first edition of Charles Dickens' immortal Tale of Two Cities.
Eat More Beef, Decrease Global Warming?
Argentina scientists are trying to measure the amount of contribution of cows to global warming. Yes, cows apparently contribute to global warming because of the amount of methane they produce as... emissions. Yes, your basic, standard-sized cow produces over 35 cubic feet (up to 1,000 liters) of methane a day. When they got the first results, the researchers were surprised: "Thirty percent of Argentina´s (total greenhouse) emissions could be generated by cattle."
Follow the link above to see a picture of the backpack device used to monitor the cow emissions.
July 14, 2008
Beating Heart Cells from Mouse iPS Cells
Japanese and German groups are reporting that they have produced functioning heart cells from mouse induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Both reports are published online ahead of print in the journal Circulation.
The two groups produced various cardiac cell types with the iPS cells, including beating cardiac cells in the lab dish. Both reports note that the iPS-derived cardiac cells were comparable to those obtained from mouse embryonic stem cells.
Reducing Abortion through Parental Notification
A commonsense way to reduce abortion would be for Congress to pass legislation requiring parental notification. The problem is that many abortion clinics lure young girls from their home states that have parental notice laws to states where they can get abortions without their parents knowing. Often the man who gets a young girl pregnant takes her to the clinic. To counter this type of human trafficking, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) reintroduced the Child Interstate Notification Act (H.R. 1063).
Continue reading "Reducing Abortion through Parental Notification" »
Wearing Black on Bastille Day
Today is Bastille Day-the day in which the French celebrate their wretched Revolution. To commemorate the Eldest Daughter of the Church's descent into anarchy and despotism, here is Edmund Burke's take on the events that followed the Storming of the Bastille:
It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles, and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in - glittering like the morning star, full of life and splendor and joy. Oh! what a revolution! and what a heart must I have to contemplate without emotion that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream when she added titles of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone.
That of sophisters, economists; and calculators has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever. Never, never more shall we behold that generous loyalty to rank and sex, that proud submission, that dignified obedience, that subordination of the heart which kept alive, even in servitude itself, the spirit of an exalted freedom. The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone! It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honor which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage whilst it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice itself lost half its evil by losing all its grossness.
